Hot Takes: 16 April 2024
What did I say on the radio today?
I joined Moore in the Morning for the Morning Brief today on Newstalk 1010 at 6:20am.
Listen to me reading this column if you’re too busy (or driving) to do it yourself! This is an experiment and the audio quality reflects that. Tell me if you like it!
1. Could underused schools help address Toronto's housing crisis? This is not as easy a solution as you’d think it should be – for precisely all the reasons that get in the way of every other construction project in the city: politics and paperwork. All of which was put in place for ostensibly good reasons. None of which reflects the reality of the massive crisis we’re in when it comes to affordable housing. Schools are often the major greenspaces in communities – and no one wants to change that. They’re also extremely valuable parcels of land and provide a notional asset on a school board’s balance sheet – something you could borrow against if required. Given our school boards are notoriously incompetent, nobody wants to give them the power to sell them off for a song.
To prevent that, the law says the land must be sold for fair market value. Ultimately, the land is owned by taxpayers and the law seeks to protect us: we paid for the land in the first place, it belongs to us and if anyone should profit it from us, it should be us. But the land is not recorded on the school board’s books at fair market value. Its book value is far lower, reflecting the cost of acquiring and upgrading it. For example, the TDSB reportedly owns 5,000 acres of land recognized on its balance sheet at a value of $110 million. In 2021, that same land was estimated to represent $15–20 Billion at market value. Since transfer from a school board to a municipality is simply a matter of transferring from the left hand to the right hand of the same taxpayer, perhaps the law could be amended to require a transfer of at least the book value of the land – allowing the receiving entity (the city) to recognize a profit on it for the taxpayer.
The accounting, however, is the easiest problem to solve. Convincing local residents to acquiesce to the construction of “affordable” homes on “their” precious greenspace may be political damnation for any government that tries.
2. Deficits and new taxes for the rich are expected to feature in today's federal budget. The government has spent weeks laying out $37 billion in new spending to entice voters to remain loyal to the Liberal brand, all of which will be inflationary – making it more difficult for the Bank of Canada to ease its key interest rates. That means higher mortgage prices, higher cost of living for longer. Precisely the opposite of what Canadians want.
But, I’m looking for any increases to corporate taxes. While many Canadians like to see corporations as evildoers, any increase to corporate taxes is bad for the economy and bad for Canadians. Higher taxes mean corporations get to keep fewer of the dollars they generate through business operations. Corporations use those after-tax dollars to re-invest in their businesses, expand their operations (creating jobs) and improving their productivity (generating more value for the economy). With fewer dollars, there will be fewer jobs, less expansion and lower productivity. Canada has enjoyed international investment in part because of its attractive corporate tax rates. Anything that makes Canada less attractive will mean less investment. The Bank of Canada has already “broken the glass” and declared our laggard corporate productivity to be a national emergency – and Canada’s foreign direct investment has dropped from $120 Billion in 2007 to $50 Billion in 2022. Higher taxes will make this worse.
3. UP Express riders upset over service cuts. When it was initially conceived and constructed, the Union-Pearson Express train was intended to provide a premium, high-speed, high-reliability transportation link between the airport and Toronto’s downtown core. It would make business trips to Toronto more attractive by avoiding the traffic congestion in the city. When business travelers arrived at the airport or were ready to head home from a financial district meeting, they didn’t know if it would take them 20 minutes or two hours to make the trip to/from the airport. The UP Express aimed to fix that. Rain, snow, or sunshine, 365 days a week the trip from Union to Pearson would take 25 minutes, traffic be-damned. All for a price of $19 one-way, with departures every 15 minutes. Cheaper and usually quicker than a taxi. Always more predictable.
Then, transit-starved Toronto communities along the UP Express path cried out to use the service as an extension of the subway system to get to and from work every day. The price was lowered and UP became just another transit line. This move seems to be an effort to return UP to its roots: with priority express service as a connection between the airport and the city’s main business district. How much time is saved by skipping two stops? I’m not sure. Is it worth the political pushback? We’ll see.
4. Peel District School Board goes political with Nakba Day on calendar. The school board in Peel has designated May 15 as Nakba Remembrance Day on its “Days of Significance” calendar. This is a stupid move. Nakba Day was created as a protest following the creation of the state of Israel and is observed annually by people who champion the eradication of Israel from the world map. Notably, Peel does not recognize Israel Independence Day, so it’s hard for the board to argue it recognizes both sides. It doesn’t. By recognizing Nakba Day as a legitimate day of “community observance” it validates the view Israel should not exist. Shame on the board for failing to stand up for its Jewish families.
5. WNBA Commissioner says Toronto in the running for expansion team. Good news! Toronto should have a WNBA team. If the success of our Professional Women’s Hockey League franchise and our national women’s soccer team shows us anything, it is that Canada wants more women’s high performance and pro sport. Sadly, the announcement was just Toronto’s appearance on a list of potential expansion locations. We need a concerted effort among the usual sport boosters in this city to make it happen. Where’s MLSE? Where’s Rogers? Where’s Bell? Where’s Drake? This won’t happen unless somebody makes it happen.