The way John Tory sees it, if the city of Toronto is going to ”tame the traffic beast,” there has to be more transit.

(Toronto Star)

The fairest way to pay for that, the mayor told a luncheon of the Toronto Region Board of Trade, would in his view be tolls on the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway.

Tory says budget problems will not be solved through efficiency and modernization alone.

The mayor has a ”mild” preference for a flat rate versus a distance travelled fee such as the 407, but wants to see what city staff think is fair.

Tory says that a toll of $2, for example, would raise over $200-million a year for the city and that all of it would go toward transit expansion.

The mayor says he opposes hiking property taxes, adding they were never meant to finance billions of dollars in transit and housing and that doing so would punish residents, making home ownership even hard.

Tory also says he does not support a parking levy, nor a return to the vehicle registration tax or the sale or partial sale of Toronto Hydro.