Toronto Municipal Budgets

Freeland argues that the surging privatization of public enterprise and governments’ initiatives of providing lower taxations for big corporations have helped to contribute more incomes to the top of the economic pyramid. She believes that unlike crony capitalism,

Budgeting is perhaps the most essential process involved in the United States government. While this process seems to exist only in the background, it is, in reality, what allows all other processes of government to function as they do. In order to satisfy the most necessities of modern society, changes must be made to each of the three major categories of the budget: the big five, the middle five, and the little guys.

The gentrification process can be seen through the demographic and physical changes of the South Parkdale neighborhood. Gentrification is “the invasion of working-class areas by the upper- and middle-classes, who upgrade shabby, modest housing into elegant residences, resulting in the displacement of all, or most of the original working-class occupiers”. (Lyons, 1996) South Parkdale is a neighborhood in downtown Toronto that faces problems of gentrification. This problem has been ongoing since the nineteen fifty’s’.

“I know our government can do better. Doing better is what we need to do. ” emphasizes the mayor of Toronto, John Tory.

Within the past decade, Canada - specifically ontario, has seen and experienced a rapid increase in its housing market. Although some speculate a crash nearing, its strong growth in Ontario has become one of this decade’s largest issues. During the year of 2016 the average price of a home in the metropolitan area was $688,011, however, prices have increased by 33% in 2017 making the average home worth $916,000 dollars. This issue presents many difficulties as it affects Canada’s economy, it’s residents, immigrants, and more. Although some have tried to pass bills in order to reverse the increase, the presented plans are much worse. Take for example, Kathleen Wynne's proposed “foreign buyers tax”. With a plan as such being passed, all of

The exchange addresses Trudeau’s new policy plan, which is attempting to give a tax break to the middle-class by taking away from the upper-class or high income citizens, which in essence seems to be resulting in resentment. On your tax plans, you talk about bringing people together but in some ways it seems it is divisive policy…... The reporter

As Canadians and individuals from around the globe progress toward the future, today’s world is plagued with a reoccurring theme of income disparity. Now more than ever, social welfare has become a vital asset in combating the thresholds placed on Canadians nationwide. Historically, such a theme has been prominent and each time the onus has been placed on the government to combat such situations through social welfare. With each individual holding a different idea of the ideology they find befitting, the chosen method can severely impact the trajectory in which these policies are implemented. With today’s society has continuously being dominated by corporatism and greed, a movement toward equality is critical in allowing Canada to grow and prosper collectivity. Based on current Canadian conditions and analysis of both

Richard McCandless had a long career in the highest levels of government finance in British Columbia. From 2004 until his retirement McCandless was the Chief Information Officer for the provincial government and built a deep understanding of the inner workings of two corporations, ICBC and BC Hydro. In retirement Richard McCandless has continued to take an interest in public policy issues and enjoys research, analysis and exposition of policies that are difficult to understand and often obscured from the public and the press.

Fiscal Federalism is the backbone of the successful functioning of Canadian society because carrying out any governmental function requires an assembly of resources associated with the effective collection and use of those resources, so “lets get down to the real business of Canada and divvy up the cash” (Bakvis & Skogstad, 2012, p. 126).

The federal budget of Canada is constantly evolving to accommodate the ever changing issues of society. Building a budget for an individual can be tricky, but when building a budget for an entire country it can be detrimental to some citizens. Making cuts in one area can make huge impacts whether positively or negatively to a group of people. I think increasing government spending in the child care program would help almost all citizens of the country in one way or another. Increasing the child tax benefit will assist families to move out of poverty and allow for children to grow up in

A tax in which an equal percent is taken from every individual’s income still provides a situation where people, regardless of personal wealth, give a reasonable portion of their earnings. However, it still rewards those who work to become successful and gives ambition for others to do the same. These successful people then go on to expand their enterprises, creating more jobs and economic prosperity for the province. This balance provides the less fortunate an opportunity to receive assistance, but more importantly, provides them with the ability to work and become successful rather than remain on welfare. I do not support the decision to replace the flat tax with progressive tax, because I believe that it will result in economic decline as well as reduce the ambition for individuals to gain personal

Toronto was named the best place to live in 2015, and consider the wide variety activities one can partake in and the general safety of Toronto, it is no surprise that somewhere like this would achieve such an accomplishment (Hall). This beautiful city is composed of people from all corners of the world and maintains a certain hospitality that helps Torontonians preserve their incredible reputation of friendliness. According to an economist post, all of these advancements have given Toronto the title of the greatest place to live in. This title is a great honor, which the city let alone the country should hold with pride and modesty. However, for decades there has been and continues to be an unsolved problem, which is continuing to grow without

On March 1, 2013, the Governor of Michigan determined that the City of Detroit was in the midst of a major financial crisis (City of Detroit, 2017). On March 14, 2013, Kevyn D. Orr was named the Emergency Financial Manager for Detroit pursuant to Emergency Municipal Loan Act (City of Detroit, 2017). On July 18, 2013 Orr filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy on behalf of the City of Detroit (City of Detroit, 2017). The bankruptcy action was approved and became effective on December 10, 2014 (City of Detroit, 2017). When the order went into effect on December 10, Orr resigned his position and budget control was returned to the city of Detroit (City of Detroit, 2017).

This theory describes how the “land based elites” are able to control the government and city to represent their interests. Part of this theory describes how local governments are often serve the interests of the elite who own land by passing policies that allow the value of the land in their cities to substantially increase. In the case of Williamsburg Brooklyn, New York City’s mayor approved the waterfront zone change from an industrial zone to residential zone in order to increase the value of the land and appease the developers of the land (Martucci,

Fiscal control boards have different impacts on the cities under which they function. My hypothesis is that the level of structural considerations such as citizen participation, socioeconomic factors, and the legal framework taken into account in the board’s policy making procedures affect its level of effectiveness. These features of control boards are then used to analyze Puerto Rico’s case in terms of strengths and weaknesses in its potential success in addressing structural problems in Puerto Rico’s economy. In terms of comparing the cases, I will take three variables: citizen input, consideration of legal structure, and socioeconomic factors when comparing the policies that were passed and their outcomes. The data used will be provided by different official documents and scholars analyzing cases of emergency financial measures and fiscal control boards mentioned in the literature review. To test this relationship, I will perform a comparative case study of Puerto Rico’s fiscal control board with that of Washington D.C, and Detroit focusing on these aspects. These examples allow me to investigate the factors involved in the policies introduced by the boards under such different contexts. By choosing these cases, I am also able to control for factors that other analysts consider imperative, such as the level of citizen input, socioeconomic conditions, and legal structure. Regarding the level of citizen input, I will be examining the