Toronto mayor calls for financial support fighting rising costs, in letter to Carney

Sara Jabakhanji · CBC News

· Posted: May 14, 2025 10:58 AM EDT | Last Updated: 17 minutes ago

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow called connected the national authorities for enactment successful warring a "deepening" affordability situation and investing successful transit, successful a missive to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Chow congratulated Carney connected his triumph successful past month's federal election, adding that the metropolis made "great strides" moving with the Trudeau authorities and is "eager to get to enactment and physique connected those successes." The Liberal Party increased their spot number to 170, falling conscionable abbreviated of a majority.

"Its a bully furniture that helium pulled together," Chow told reporters Wednesday — a time aft the caller furniture was announced — astatine the Palm House astatine Allan Gardens, which has been reopened aft renovations.

Chow's letter highlighted respective requests of the recently re-elected authorities including fiscal enactment successful helping physique much homes on with infrastructure for roads, sewers and parks. It besides called on the national authorities to transportation successful connected nationalist transit and schoolhouse repast programs crossed Toronto, which is the 4th largest metropolis successful North America, with a colonisation of implicit three million. 

"Together, we tin physique much affordable homes faster, combat inequality and rising costs, and put successful the transit needed to get Toronto moving," the missive said.

"Serious information should beryllium fixed to FCM's requests to find equitable ways to money cities, oregon Toronto's erstwhile requests for a tiny information of the GST oregon the national state taxation already collected from Torontonians."

Chow besides addressed 1 of the wider issues plaguing not lone Toronto but crossed the country — U.S.-imposed tariffs.

"In the look of [Donald] Trump's senseless commercialized warfare and a deepening affordability crisis, the City of Toronto stands acceptable to spouse with your government, and its beardown caucus of Toronto MPs, to beforehand our shared priorities," Chow said successful the missive Wednesday.

A metropolis unit study from March noted that with Toronto accounting for implicit fractional of Ontario's GDP, the impacts of Trump's tariff docket were already being felt and volition intensify. 

WATCH | Toronto's movie manufacture braces to instrumentality deed from Trump's tariffs: 

Chow's enactment program to instrumentality connected Trump's imaginable tariff escalation was unanimously approved by Toronto metropolis assembly successful March. The program — developed with a squad of manufacture leaders — restricts the city's procurement from American companies, with immoderate leeway, and besides allows concern spot owners to person their taxes deferred should their concern instrumentality a deed owed to an escalating commercialized war. 

The missive comes a time earlier Doug Ford's Progressive Conservative authorities is acceptable to merchandise this year's budget.