making Toronto Water a public utility<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cWe think that the municipal water utility, publicly owned, will produce a dividend. So part of that dividend would go to offset this,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Bradford added that changes to amortize capital projects over their useful life instead of funding them from the current year\u2019s operating budget would also help to offset the cost.<\/p>\n
Toronto\u2019s municipal land transfer tax goes directly to the city\u2019s operating budget. Toronto brought in $805 million in land transfer tax revenue in 2025. In 2026, the city\u2019s budget forecasted $850 million in land transfer tax revenue. <\/p>\n
Bradford said that \u201cnot one\u201d city service will be cut to pay for the plan.<\/p>\n
Chow responds<\/p>\n
At her own news conference, incumbent Olivia Chow threw water on Bradford\u2019s plan, and questioned how the city could afford it.<\/p>\n
\u201cCouncillor Bradford will say anything during election time, and finding those multi-million dollars of funding means that service has to be cut. I will not slash public services people rely on. I am focusing on making life more affordable, and certainly making life so much more healthier and connected for seniors and living well-that\u2019s my focus.\u201d<\/p>\n
She went on to criticize Bradford\u2019s pitch for making Toronto Water a public utility, saying that the move would effectively put control of the utility in the hands of \u201csomeone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt needs to belong to us. It belongs to the residents of Toronto. We\u2019re not going to give it away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chow unveiled Tuesday a plan to create a more \u201csenior-friendly city,\u201d which aims to support older residents who want age at home. <\/p>\n
The plan will make available free homemaking services to 5,000 seniors for cleaning, laundry, meal prep, and household basics. <\/p>\n
Her plan also includes the expansion of mobile dental and primary care clinics, which she expects can help 8,000 seniors stay healthy near their homes.<\/p>\n
Alexander questions Bradford\u2019s math<\/p>\n
In a statement released by candidate Chris Alexander\u2019s campaign, the former federal cabinet minister questioned how Bradford will pay for the promise.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree hundred million dollars a year, every year, from a city that is already more than a billion dollars short. There are only three ways to cover it: raise taxes, cut a service, or borrow. Which one is he choosing? He has to say.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alexander went on to say that while he too wants to reduce the land transfer tax, Bradford\u2019s proposal is not the way to do it, as the city is already anticipating a roughly $1.1 billion shortfall heading into 2027.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other two candidates keep coming with feel-good discounts and no solutions attached,\u201d he said. \u201cBoth of the other campaigns are built on a series of very rich promises they cannot justify. It is no wonder we are where we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
TRREB welcomes announcement<\/p>\n
In a news release published following Bradford\u2019s announcement, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board said it was encouraged by the proposal.<\/p>\n
The group pointed out that, after the municipal land transfer tax was first introduced in 2008, a first-time home buyer was not required to pay the tax after applying the rebate due to the relatively low property values at that time.<\/p>\n
Now, combined with the provincial land transfer tax, non-first-time homeowners are paying roughly $36,000 on an average-priced Toronto home as an upfront closing cost.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter almost 18 years, the Toronto Land Transfer Tax has not made our City more affordable. Reforming the MLTT to provide relief to all homebuyers will help first-time buyers, individuals, growing families, and seniors looking to right-size and stay within the community they have called home for decades,\u201d TRREB President Daniel Steinfeld said in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brad Bradford has announced that he will waive the municipal land transfer tax on the first $1.1 million…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":914585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[712,49,48,44],"class_list":["post-914584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=914584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/914585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=914584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=914584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=914584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}