Toronto's 10-year economic plan calls for city to tackle congestion, inequality, housing

The City of Toronto is unveiling a strategy to guide its economic growth over the next decade, calling for “a new approach” to help solve some of its toughest challenges.

The City of Toronto is unveiling a strategy to guide its economic growth over the next decade, calling for “a new approach” to help solve some of its toughest challenges.

Dubbed “Sidewalks to Skylines: A 10-Year Action Plan For Toronto’s Economy,” the 72-page document provides a checklist of items to guide the city’s growth.

“Delivering on the action in ‘Sidewalks to Skylines’ will keep Toronto’s engine firing on all cylinders and put the city on a path to continue its growth,” Mayor Olivia Chow said at a news conference to unveil the plan Wednesday. “And we plan to double our GDP in 25 years, that’s ambitious.”

The plan proposes 29 key objectives over the next five years.

At the top of the list is a new deal with the provincial and federal governments for permanent sustainable funding for the city.

The city and the province worked out the first part of their “new deal” last year. The plan includes saving the municipality billions of dollars by having Ontario take back responsibility for the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway.