Closing the Gap: Action on Available Solutions

In 2016, the Board’s City of Toronto budget submission recommended that City officials should: ● Develop a plan to address the City’s infrastructure needs; ● Generate value by actively monetizing City assets; and ● Modernize City services - like the Toronto Police Service - through technology and a reassessment of the real estate needs and deployment of the service. [...] The Board of Trade applauds the hard work, thoughtfulness and enthusiasm of the Police Board, the Task Force’s volunteer citizen members, the Chief of Police and Police staff supporting this initiative. [...] To put the urgency of reforms in the Police Budget in perspective, reducing the Police Services grant from a 0.2% increase to a spending freeze (far short of the -2.6% requested) generates greater savings than several of the most controversial efficiencies in the budget package. [...] As the Board has previously expressed while personnel changes should be made in consultation with the Toronto Police Association, our understanding is that the Chief of Police has the authority to change the shift structure without reducing positions. [...] With this in mind, the Board believes the RCMP or some other national 6 agency is better suited to take the lead on this emerging issue and will formally write to justice officials in the coming weeks to begin a national discussion on this issue.