Wynne’s toll veto a costly blow to Toronto

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After his first face-to-face meeting with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne since she cancelled his plan for road tolls, Toronto Mayor John Tory skipped the routine ritual of a joint news conference with her at Queen's Park to send a message.

"What I am trying to say is that it couldn't be business as usual today," Mr. Tory told reporters later at his own separate news conference, back at City Hall. "We are trying to get ourselves back toward business as usual."

Last week, in a move aimed at placating angry voters in the 905 belt around the city, Ms. Wynne vetoed Mr. Tory's plan to toll the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway to raise funds for road repairs and transit expansion. She offered instead a greater chunk of the province's gas-tax revenue to Toronto and all other municipalities across Ontario. The lion's share of the money – about $170-million a year once it is phased in – will still go to Toronto.

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On Monday, despite their disagreement, both leaders also made conciliatory comments. But it's clear Ms. Wynne's decision has emboldened Mr. Tory to press more aggressively for other new cash from the province – including hundreds of millions to help fix the city's dilapidated public housing.

It's also clear that the toll veto has cost Toronto – which has more than $30-billion in unfunded pending infrastructure projects – significantly.

On Monday, a solo Ms. Wynne told reporters the gas-tax amount was "equal" to the take Toronto was expecting from the tolls. While Mr. Tory had used a city estimate of around $200-million when he unveiled the idea, the city staff report produced last year on tolling used hypothetical charges of $2 to $5.20 a trip to generate estimated revenues of $166-million to $336-million a year.

However, Mr. Tory confirmed on Monday that before the Premier's about-face, his office actually believed the city was going to be allowed both to impose its tolls and to receive that increased gas-tax revenue of $170-million. (Instead of scrapping the tolls altogether, he said, provincial officials had said they wanted to delay them until public-transit improvements were in place.)

Such a deal could have meant twice as much money for the city and possibly – at the higher end of the projected revenue from tolls – nearly three times as much.

The tolls vetoing may have left the Toronto Mayor fuming, but the move should please many in the municipalities around Toronto.

About 40 per cent of drivers on the Gardiner and DVP come from outside Toronto and so do not contribute to its maintenance through their property taxes, a fact Mr. Tory used repeatedly as he sold his plan.

They will now continue to use those highways without charge. On top of that, the communities from which these commuters hail will also see a doubling of their own gas-tax revenues.

York Region accounts for 16 per cent of traffic on the two highways, according to figures from the City of Toronto. York received about $15-million in gas-tax funding in 2016-17, the province says. And under Ms. Wynne's plan, which does not kick in until after the 2018 election, York Region's gas-tax revenue will double by 2021-22.

Peel Region, which generates 12 per cent of the vehicles on the two highways, will eventually see its share of the gas tax double to $56-million a year from around $28-million.