December 11, 2025

Friends,

The City officially launched the 2026 Budget today with a staff-prepared budget presented to the Budget Committee. The City’s budget process is an important time for us to come together as Toronto residents to envision the equitable and compassionate city we want to live in and shape the budget that will enable us to create it.

The Budget Committee was presented with an operating budget of $18.9 billion and a 2026-2035 capital budget and plan of $63.1 billion, the largest 10-year capital plan in the City’s history, to address aging infrastructure and invest in housing, transit and water. Key highlights from the 2026 staff-prepared budget include expanding the school nutrition program to all public schools, freezing TTC fares for a third year in a row, opening all library branches seven days a week, and additional support for renters and homeowners. The staff presentation from today’s 2026 Budget launch can be reviewed here: BU10.1 - 2026 Capital and Operating Budget Launch.

The next step in this process is for Toronto residents to share feedback to the Budget Committee in person or online at public meetings, by phone at Telephone Town Halls, or in writing, over the next two weeks. I encourage you learn about the various opportunities to get involved in the budget here: Get Involved in the Budget – City of Toronto.

I will also be hosting a 2026 Budget Virtual Town Hall on Monday, January 19 at 6pm for our Ward 4 community to discuss our vision for the city together. I would love to see your there. Please RSVP at gordperks.ca/2026budget

Following the public consultation period, the Mayor’s Proposed Budget will be released on February 1 and the Council-approved 2026 Budget will be determined at a Special City Council meeting on February 10.

I look forward to hearing and learning from you through this process, so that together we can build a more capable and caring Toronto. 

Sincerely,

Friends,

As we celebrate the holiday season and the start of a new year ahead, I want to share my gratitude for everyone that calls Toronto home. Each of us plays a role, year-round, in spreading cheer, building one another up, and contributing to the many communities we are fortunate to have in our city.  

I hope you take pride in the tremendous progress we have made together in 2025. Thanks to your participation and advocacy in shaping our City’s 2025 Budget and priorities, we have made significant investments in accelerating housing development, improving public transit, increasing access to free public space and delivering affordability relief for families.

Key successes in 2025 include expanding permissions for housing options (multiplexes up to six dwelling units) and small-scale retail in neighbourhoods to create more complete communities, installing dedicated bus lanes on Dufferin Street and Bathurst Street, opening Sunday service at all 100 Toronto Public Library branches, launching a Furnace Upgrade Program to help residents save on energy bills, and broadening the reach of the School Food Program and extending the nutrition program to CampTO locations.  

In my role as Chair of the Planning and Housing Committee, I have been deeply moved by the tireless work of City staff to successfully establish our City as a public builder. Whereas projects that rely on the private market alone have stalled, the City’s Public Developer housing projects are moving forward to deliver rent-controlled homes. As a result, in the first eight months of 2025, City-led and City-supported projects account for 65% of all housing starts achieved this year.

I look forward to continuing to work together in 2026, alongside community, civic society, and our civil service to build a more capable and caring Toronto.  

Sincerely,

Friends,

I am encouraged by the measure announced by Mayor Chow this week to fund programs that make life more affordable by asking luxury property buyers to chip in more.

The Luxury Homes Tax, which was first introduced by Mayor Chow in 2023, only applies to the wealthiest 2% of property buyers – 0.5% of all residents. The program has been a success, generating $138.2 million in revenue to the City in 2024, and funding City building initiatives over the last two years that have helped working-class families to save money.

The City’s support in building thousands more affordable homes and protecting renters from eviction has contributed to the average rent in Toronto coming down for the first time in decades. The City has also doubled the subsidy for basement flooding programs to help homeowners protect their home, increased TTC services and reliability while freezing fares, and expanded library hours to give families more access to free space and resources.    

Still, this has been a difficult year for many Torontonians with the imposition of tariffs, rising costs for goods, and people at risk of losing their jobs. In our current economic uncertainty, it is vital that our City continues to deliver and expand upon our affordability initiatives to help working-class families. It is only fair that those that have continued to do very well, and benefitted from our local systems, contribute to making our city affordable for all residents.  

The Mayor is proposing to raise the rates luxury property buyers pay to generate $152 million in 2026. This money will go to programs that help families save $1200 a year on groceries and transit by funding the school food program and not raising TTC fares three years running.

This motion will be considered at Executive Committee on December 9^th, and I look forward to the discussion. I encourage you to review the full committee agenda here.  

Sincerely,