Submission by Community AIR
to the
STANDING COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT, INFRASTRUCTURE AND COMMUNITIES
On Bill C23, an Act to Amend the Canada Marine Act
February 1, 2008
Bill Freeman will speak on behalf of Community AIR

Community AIR
47 B Harbour Square, Box 81057
Toronto, Ontario, M5J 2R0
info@communityair www.communityair.org

Executive Summary:

The formation of the Toronto Port Authority (TPA) by the Canada Marine Act of 1999 has created serious governance problems along the waterfront of Toronto. Today the City of Toronto and the Toronto Port Authority have competing visions of how the city’s waterfront should be redeveloped. This has created a conflict that came to a head when the TPA approved the expansion of the Toronto Island Airport, ignoring the wishes of city council.

This governance problem must be corrected by reorganizing the board of the Toronto Port Authority so that majority control rests with the City of Toronto.

Resolution:

Community AIR respectfully submits the following resolution to the Standing Committee:

That Bill C-23 be amended to give the City of Toronto majority control over the board of the Toronto Port Authority with representatives from the federal and provincial governments.

Background:

In 1998 the federal government introduced the Canada Marine Act to reorganize Canada’s ports. In the legislation that was initially tabled, Toronto was not listed as a port to be administered by a port authority. A number of qualifications for a port were listed and Toronto did not meet those qualifications. These are the words of Richard Byers, vice-president of Nesbitt-Burns.
In the case of Toronto, current operations do not generate cash flow sufficient to cover expected maintenance and capital spending. In addition, a significant portion of the port's revenue comes from a subsidy from the City of Toronto, a subsidy which is not commercially enforceable.
This decision did not please some powerful interests. In third reading of the bill an amendment was put forward to include the Port of Toronto under the jurisdiction of the Canada Marine Act and create the Toronto Port Authority.

Barbara Hall, Toronto’s mayor at the time, and other members of Toronto City Council, were furious. In a Senate hearing on the bill Toronto City Councillor Dan Leckie said, “The Mayor’s office was given assurances right up to the night before third reading of the bill in the House of Commons [that the port would be turned over to the city]. We were shocked.” He went on to say that Toronto’s port was 46th in the level of activity of ports across the country and did not have national significance.

In the ensuing controversy Toronto’s Metro Council passed a motion 36 to 1 asking the federal government to remove Toronto from its list of port authorities. Regardless of the almost universal local opposition in the city, the bill was passed by Parliament and signed into law.

The decision to include Toronto into the Canada Marine Act, and the creation of the Toronto Port Authority, has caused many problems and continues to plague the politics and planning of the city. The main reason is that the act created competing political jurisdictions along Toronto’s waterfront.

On the Waterfront:

The City of Toronto is going through a major redevelopment of its waterfront. This is the biggest urban redevelopment project in Canada, worth billions of dollars of public and private sector money.

This is the city’s vision of its new waterfront taken from Toronto’s official website.

Toronto's waterfront is our front porch to the world. With the right kind of investment, the waterfront will become a necklace of green, with pearls of activity; people living, working and enjoying it with pride and passion.

The vision of the Toronto Port Authority, on the other hand, is to create an industrial strip, dominated by an airport. These two visions are incompatible, and it is not surprising that they have led to conflicts.

City - TPA Conflicts:

The Toronto Port Authority has responsibilities and jurisdictions in three different areas: land, the port and the Island Airport. There are conflicts between the TPA and the city in each of these areas.

Land: The TPA owns land along the waterfront that they inherited when they took over the assets of the Toronto Harbour Commission. Much of this land has nothing to do with the running of the port.

A dispute over land was the first real conflict between the TPA and the City of Toronto. Shortly after the port authority was formed the TPA launched a $1 billion law suit against the city over land that they say was wrongfully conveyed to the city without adequate compensation. This dispute was ultimately settled with payments of $48 million over ten years from the city to the TPA, but not before an intense political controversy broke out in Toronto. Many citizens questioned why two government bodies were involved in an expensive law suit. Didn’t all of these assets belong to the people?

Port: The tonnage coming into Toronto’s port has been shrinking in recent years. According to the TPA Annual Report of 2006, the port operations brought in $5,050,000 in revenues, but it cost $5,234,000 to operate the port. Toronto’s port is a very small operation and there are other Canadian ports, like Goderich, that have more tonnage than Toronto and are administrated by the municipality.

Because the TPA lacks funds, a number of sea walls that they are responsible for are badly deteriorating. In some spots the walls have collapsed, creating navigation hazards for small boats.

Toronto Island Airport: The TPA is the only port authority in Canada that operates an airport. The Toronto Island Airport has caused the most intense jurisdictional fight in Toronto’s recent history. You can find a full description of this dispute on our website: www.communityair.org

Essentially the controversy around the expansion of the Toronto Island Airport is about a vision for the waterfront. On the one hand community groups, Toronto’s mayor and many others argue that an expanded, busy airport on the waterfront, in the centre of the city, is incompatible with a clean, green waterfront of residential neighbourhoods and parks. An airport is an industrial use that brings pollution, traffic, noise and serious safety problems. The alternate vision, defended by the Toronto Port Authority, is that an airport is a great facility.

This controversy came to a head in the 2003 municipal election. David Miller advocated “no Island Airport expansion” in his campaign for mayor, and all of the other serious candidates for mayor supported airport expansion. Miller’s election victory illustrated that people did not want a major airport on their waterfront. His victory reflected polling results that showed that approximately 60% of the people of Toronto opposed the Island Airport expansion.

The issue seemed settled. The people had spoken, but the Toronto Port Authority ignored this expression of public will and went ahead with airport expansion anyway. The bridge to the Island Airport had been cancelled, but the TPA bought a new ferry boat and expansion has gone ahead. Because of their powers under the Canada Marine Act, the TPA was able to do this without the approval of Toronto City Council.

This action by the TPA is one of the most blatant, anti-democratic moves in Toronto’s recent history. A federally appointed body had violated the clear expression of the will of the public. Not surprisingly this led to a political uproar that has not been resolved. It has also led to the vilification and even visceral hatred of this federally appointed Toronto Port Authority.

Concerns about Bill C-23:

There are a number of clauses in Bill C-23 that will increase the powers of the TPA and this in turn will increase the conflict between the port authority and the city. These are three examples:

Section 14.2 (1.) This amendment will allow the appointment of a Director to the Board, if the position has been vacant for one year. The City of Toronto has refused to fill its position on the TPA board in protest to the actions of the port authority. This would allow the vacancy to be filled without the city having any say in the matter.

Section 22.1 This Amendment will allow the Board of Directors to delegate power to manage the activities of the port authority to a committee of directors or an OFFICER OF THE PORT AUTHORITY. This amendment could increase the powers of the officers of the port authority considerably leaving no political accountability of any kind.

Section 25 currently reads: “No payment to a port authority or a wholly-owned subsidiary of a port authority may be made under an appropriation by Parliament to enable the port authority or subsidiary to discharge an obligation or liability…”
The proposed revision to Section 25 renders port authorities eligible for government subsidies. This amendment totally undermines the principle that port authorities are to be self-sufficient.

Resolution:

The conflict between the City of Toronto and the TPA is a serious problem that must be resolved. We fear that Bill C-23 will increase the powers of the port authority and the conflict will increase.

The only resolution that will work is to return control of Toronto’s port to the people of Toronto. Community AIR believes in local democracy. Toronto City Council is elected by the people of Toronto and is accountable to the city’s citizens. That is the political body that should have jurisdiction over the waterfront.

For all of the above reasons we ask that the members of the standing committee support the following resolution:

That Bill C-23 be amended to give the City of Toronto majority control over the board of the Toronto Port Authority with representatives from the federal and provincial governments.