Broken Budgets: Fixing our Cities for the Future

• Make invaluable connections: Be in the room with business leaders, policymakers, and urban experts driving the future of the Toronto region. 
• Funding insights: Discover how strategic financial planning can secure essential funding for infrastructure development.
• Partnership opportunities: Learn how cities can maximize their public assets, opening doors to private sector partnerships that drive innovation.
• Competitive tax opportunities: Understand how an improved fiscal approach can create a tax environment that supports both businesses and residents.
• Global and local perspectives: Dive into best practices from around the world, complemented by locally driven solutions to boost Toronto’s business ecosystem.

11:30 AM – 12:00 PM: Networking and Registration

12:00 – 12:05 PM: Opening Remarks

• Giles Gherson, President and CEO, Toronto Region Board of Trade

12:05 – 12:35 PM: In Conversation: A New Approach to City Budgets

Fixing municipal budgets is not only about securing predictable funding from other orders of government—cities themselves must have the fiscal discipline to get their house in order.

What are innovative and provocative ways for cities in our region to work together to control costs and deliver services more efficiently? How can tools like shared services, shared procurement, land value capture, leveraging new technologies, and improved expenditure control improve the fiscal health of municipalities?

• Don Iveson – Former Mayor of Edmonton
• Peter Wallace – Former City Manager, Senior Advisor with Boston Consulting Group

Moderator:

• Mohamed Bhamani, Partner - Government and Public Sector, EY

12:35 – 1:20 PM: Lunch & Networking

1:20 – 1:55 PM: Keynote & Moderated Q&A: From Vision to Value

The City of Copenhagen went from near fiscal bankruptcy to being one of the wealthiest cities in the world. Its publicly-owned but privately-operated corporation successfully leveraged city assets to pay for $4.2 billion in subway expansions—without raising taxes. Denmark also leverages different orders of government to pool their assets to create heft and scale. How should our cities think about leveraging public assets and implementing land value capture as an alternative source of revenue for cities?

• Luise Noring, Principal and Business Economist in Urban Governance and Finance, City Facilitators – Copenhagen, Denmark

Moderator:

• Fahim Kaderdina, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Nexus Strategy Group

1:55 – 2:25 PM: Lightning Talks: Global Lessons on Leveraging Public Assets for A Prosperous City

The City of Toronto and other cities in our region have significant assets that range from land to transit and energy.  How should our cities think about leveraging public assets? Is there a role for pension funds and private equity?  What is preventing them from doing so, and what is needed to embark on an alternative path – including potentially publicly owned – but privately operated corporations?

• Karina Bech, Consul General, Royal Danish Consulate General, The Trade Council
• Jon Phillips, Chief Executive Officer, Global Infrastructure Investor Association (GIIA)

2:25 – 2:50 PM: In Conversation: Funded Mandates for Our Cities?

Deemed to be “creatures of the province”, cities in Canada lack funding tools to match their outsized role in the national economy. Cities are asked to deliver many services that are the purview of federal and provincial governments, resulting in so-called unfunded mandates. A new three-year agreement between the City of Toronto and the Government of Ontario in 2023 marks a positive step forward for the City’s fiscal health, and a similar deal was struck with the City of Ottawa. But these deals area stopgap, not a long-term solution, even as other cities in the region clamour for deals of their own.

Can we afford the city we want? What would a ‘Grand Bargain’ for the next two decades look like—one that goes beyond annual bailouts and establishes a sustainable funding base for our city and its services? 

• Anne Golden, Golden Commission and former CEO of Conference Board of Canada
• Dr. Mark MacDonald, Global Public Finance Management Leader, EY

Moderator:

• Jeff Gray, Queen’s Park Reporter, The Globe & Mail

2:50 – 3:05 PM: Networking Break

3:05 – 3:30 PM: Fireside Chat with Councillor Shelley Carroll  

When Councillor Shelley Carroll was last Chair of the City's Budget Committee, the City delivered four balanced budgets in a row. In September 2023, Mayor Chow appointed her to this role once again, with the daunting challenge of tackling Toronto's dire budget challenges. This fireside discussion will explore the City's fiscal position, and the efforts underway to forge a more sustainable path.

• Shelley Carroll, Chair, Budget Committee and Councillor, Ward 17—Don Valley North, City of Toronto

Moderator:

• Giles Gherson, President & CEO, Toronto Region Board of Trade

3:30 – 4:10 PM: Paying for Growth and A Livable Metropolis  

The Toronto region, Canada’s largest and most economically diverse urban region is also one of the fastest growing in North America. Towns and cities in the region are being asked to build the vast majority of the 1.5 million homes the Government of Ontario has said will be needed to accommodate new residents.

Housing and transit are among two of the most pressing challenges for growth. Both put enormous financial pressures on municipal operating and capital budgets. What does a 21st century, rapidly expanding and regionally integrated transit network look like? And how should it be funded? Is it time to reexamine the conventional wisdom that growth must pay for growth? What are alternative models that could supercharge sorely needed housing supply, while maintaining the ability to fund infrastructure needed to accommodate this growth?

• Tony Irwin, President & CEO, Federation of Rental Housing Providers of Ontario (FRPO)
• Paul Johnson, City Manager, City of Toronto

Moderator:

• Ana Bailão, Head of Affordable Housing and Public Affairs, DREAM

4:10 – 4:15 PM: Closing Remarks

• Giles Gherson, President & CEO, Toronto Region Board of Trade

4:15 – 5:15 PM: Cocktail Networking Reception