This year, the City of Toronto is hosting in-person and online consultations with the public before bringing forward a proposed budget for 2024. This a huge opportunity to name your priorities, like climate action, transit, housing, and more.

It’s no accident that these meetings are happening at the same time as discussions with the provincial and federal governments to secure more sustainable financing for Toronto. It’s important to bring the voices of Toronto residents into these discussions, and into the City’s own budget process over the next few months. The City is facing an unprecedented budget crisis heading into 2024, and we need your voices to speak up for the programs and services that will make Toronto a greener, more equitable city.

How to participate:

You can participate in the online survey here before November 30th.

You can also join an in-person or online meeting with the City’s Budget Chair, other members of Council, and senior City staff, happening across Toronto between November 20th and 30th. You can find times and register here: toronto.ca/budget

Consultation tips

The online survey will ask you some multiple choice questions about what issues and city services you care about. At the end, you’ll be given some open-ended questions about what the City can do to make Toronto affordable, livable, and equitable for all. You’ll then have the opportunity to review and rate suggestions from other people. You will also have the opportunity to suggest and rate ideas at the in-person consultations.

Make sure to aim high with your suggestions, knowing that this feedback will be influencing not only the City’s budget, but also talks with other levels of government.

To help get you started, here are some areas where TEA has recently pushed for more investment:

• Reliable, frequent, affordable, and accessible transit, and funding tools like a commercial parking levy to sustain high-quality transit service
• Climate resilience solutions like green infrastructure, trees, parks, ravines, and shade, especially in neighbourhoods where people have less access to green spaces
• Green, affordable, climate-safe housing
• Supporting a local zero-waste economy with reusables, organics diversion, and strong programs to educate residents about waste reduction
• Funding for safe and sustainable transportation options like the Cycling Network Plan and Complete Streets that keep all road users safe

There will also be room for you to share ideas for how the City can save money and redirect investment. For example, one idea TEA has supported in past budgets is to deprioritize expensive infrastructure projects like the Gardiner rehabilitation that will drive up carbon emissions and congestion from cars, and instead invest in solutions that get people into cleaner forms of transportation.

You can learn more about budget basics, access the survey in multiple languages, and find dates and locations for all the consultations on the City’s budget page here: https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/budget-finances/city-budget/