At City Council today we approved a new, four-year collective agreement with the Toronto Civic Employees’ Union Local 416 (CUPE), which represents 6,000 “outside” workers and paramedics.

The agreement approved at today’s Special Council meeting reflects the City’s bargaining objectives and the mandate established by the City’s Employee and Labour Relations Committee (ELRC).

The new agreement provides employees with a modest wage increase in the second, third and fourth year of the contract. These increases are 0.5 per cent (2013), 1.75 per cent (2014) and 2.25 per cent (2015) and reflect the City’s current financial circumstances. In addition to the 0.5 per cent increase to base wages in 2013, there will be a lump sum payment of 1.5 per cent. There is no increase for 2012.

The City was successful in eliminating or amending many of the restrictive conditions in the existing collective agreement, as well as introducing many cost containment provisions. Highlights include:

• New or revised shift schedules that meet operational needs to improve productivity no longer require union approval
• Employment security provisions regarding contracting out now apply to employees with 15 years of seniority or more
• New streamlined redeployment processes which will reduce the time to place an employee in a new position by 75 per cent
• Changes to the employee benefit plan
• Interest arbitration for paramedics commencing with the next round of collective bargaining.
• Changes to running lunches which will be permitted only where it is operationally efficient.

This new agreement modernizes the previous collective agreement and allows the City to deliver its services effectively and efficiently to the residents and businesses of Toronto.

Details of the agreement are available at http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2012.CC18.1.

The agreement’s four-year term also means that the collective agreement will not expire until after the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games have concluded.

When I’m asked what the biggest problem facing Toronto the answer is easy: our transportation crisis. What is far more complex is how to solve it. In the past 25 years only 6 new subway stations have been opened. A generation ago other cities would visit to learn from Toronto’s successful transit strategy. They don’t come any more. Toronto as North America’s most traffic congested city is a model for failure.

Despite these problems, we are on the right track. Currently, the Spadina-University subway is extending north to York University and into Vaughan. This $2.6 billion project is scheduled to open in 2015. We are also breaking ground on the Eglinton Crosstown. This $6 billion project will provide easy access for hundreds of thousands of commuters.

The next vital subway project is on Sheppard Avenue. My priority is connecting the Downsview Station with the Sheppard-Yonge Station along Sheppard. This 5.45 km link is crucial as it will add an East-West seamless transit loop between the two north-south lines already constructed. It will cost about $1.48 billion.

My motion at City Council on February 8, directs a number of different City of Toronto departments to find creative and determined ways to fund this essential transit project. If we follow the financial bouncing ball, my plan will generate about $300 million for digging 1 km per year. For example, I would like to require 50% of all future city budget surpluses dedicated to new transit projects as well as see the TTC sell non-performing real estate assets for new subway construction. My motion also calls for 20% of the net proceeds from the sale of all City of Toronto assets be directed towards subway construction. On the political side, we need to work with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to create a national public transportation funding strategy.

My colleagues at City Council referred my motion to a special advisory panel to advise on how best to proceed with the Sheppard subway strategy. It is also important to remember that we already have spent $ 1 billion on the Sheppard subway plan which added 5 new stations in 2002. We also have $1 billion in existing funding commitments. Stay tuned, the panel is to report back at the end of March. The city has to get moving and Ward 10 must be central in getting it going.

Everyone is invited to a free public skate at the Herbet H. Carnegie Centennial Centre arena on Sunday, March 4, 2012 between 12pm and 2pm. The arena is located at 580 Finch Avenue West, two blocks east of Bathurst Street.

Skate rentals are available.

For more information please call 416-392-1371.

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I was pleased to see that the City of Toronto has reached a tentative agreement with the Toronto Civic Employees’ Union Local 416 (CUPE), which represents the City’s 6,000 outside workers and paramedics.

I’d like to thank the City’s bargaining team for their tireless efforts in negotiating an agreement that will help move the City of Toronto forward, as well as the Local 416 bargaining team for their willingness to negotiate at the bargaining table rather than taking job action that would deprive residents of important City services.

Details of the agreement will be released once it is ratified by the Local 416 membership and subsequently approved by City Council.

City services and programs continue as usual.

Bargaining with Local 79, which represents the City’s 23,000 “inside workers”, continues.

I congratulated William Lyon Mackenzie Secondary School students from the TDSB Dare2Dance competition winning team eMotion at City Council. Over 500 TDSB students in Grades 9 to 12 participated in the second annual TDSB Dance Challenge. Thank you to all the students who participated and staff who helped make it happen.

I joined the youngest learners and their families at the TDSB Parenting and Family Literacy Centres in Wilmington Public School and Rockford Public School. Family Literacy Day promotes the importance of learning and reading together as a family.

Parenting and Family Literacy Centres are school-based programs in which parents and children, up to six years of age, participate in a range of play-based learning activities that focus on the optimal development of the child and the early acquisition of literacy and numeracy skills.

The Earl Bales Park ski hills are open with 2 of the 4 runs available. The Ski Centre is operating the chair lift and rope tow and there are modified lesson programs in effect.  

Experience winter in the City, just minutes away at two convenient locations. Certified instructors invite you to discover skiing and snowboarding in one of our many programs designed for the absolute beginner to the advanced skier/snowboarder. Our dedicated Instructors are constantly developing their skills to deliver the best teaching methods so that you receive the finest experience possible.

Toronto ski & snowboard programs are a great way for the entire family to stay fit and have fun this winter. Both centres offer a variety of season passes to suit your lifestyle and family needs. Try a new winter activity or rediscover the adventure in your own backyard.

More information is available at http://www.toronto.ca/parks/skiing/index.htm.

In the end we continued to fund vital grants to seniors and women’s groups, TTC routes, school pools, community centres. It is important to note that the funding to these services accounted for approximately 0.15% of the budget. At the same time, the city will still be putting well over $100 million of the surplus into our capital debt.

This budget marks the first decline in gross expenditures since amalgamation with a $20 million decrease – reaffirming this council’s commitment to building a sustainable, affordable and well-managed city. We limited to the property tax increase to 2.5% which works out to $60 a year for the average homeowner. When taken with last year’s 0% increase, residents will have only seen their property taxes increase by 1.25% annually over the past two years. It is important that we take tax pressure off seniors on fixed incomes who still live in their homes as well as working families.

Ultimately, I believe this budget shows the spirit of compromise that makes Toronto such a great city. We’ve listened to residents from all over the city and responded to their concerns as best as possible while continuing to work towards fiscal sustainability.

• School nutrition programs for 14,000 students in low-income families.
• Programs at twelve school-based community centres.
• Wheel-Trans service for ambulatory dialysis patients will continue through June 30 as permanent funding is looked for.
• Two of the seven indoor pools, Bedford Park Community Centre and Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate Institute, that were to be closed will remain open.