🔭 PLATFORM VIEW: Josh Matlow’s plan to combat the climate crisis

🔗 LINK: votematlow.ca/climate-f…

🔧 DOABLE? Yes.

💰 COSTED? Yes.

✨ OVERALL: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½ ( 3.5 out of five)

Josh Matlow’s climate change plan is notable for a couple of reasons.

First, it’s notable because it’s a climate change plan, and not a lot of other candidates have offered specific climate change plans.

Focusing on the environment makes sense, both because it’s a critical issue for our times and also because City Hall has already embarked on an ambitious effort to reduce city-wide emissions and the next mayor will have a lot to do with whether emission targets are achieved, or if this is going to be one of those embarrassing things where Toronto comes up short.

It’s also notable because it’s basically designed to be self-funding, with a $200 million annual investment funded by a new levy charged to commercial parking spaces attached to large commercial properties like shopping malls.

That $200 million would fund building retrofits and programs to make sure all new buildings are zero-emission, a TTC ridership growth strategy to get more people on transit, improved cycling and pedestrian infrastructure to provide non-polluting transportation options, and electrification of the city’s vehicle fleet, including TTC buses.

All good stuff, and the funding mechanism — the commercial parking levy — is sensible because it increases the cost of something that contributes to Toronto’s emissions. Under Matlow’s plan, either these commercial parking spaces will start to generate revenue for environmental programs, or property owners will be incented to convert parking spaces to more productive and greener uses, like housing.

Both outcomes are a win.

To that end, though, I wish Matlow would have provided a more thorough accounting of both the revenue and spending side of his plan.

Presumably, the parking levy will generate less revenue in subsequent years as some parking spaces are converted, for example. Is that accounted for?

And Matlow cites a budget briefing note from earlier this year, based on KPMG figures from 2016, estimating that a levy could raise “$171 to $535 million per year.” Matlow says he’s “estimated parking levy revenues on the low end as he would exempt grocery stores, public institutions, small neighbourhood strip malls, electric vehicle charging spots, spaces for expectant mothers, those with mobility challenges and others to ensure the levy is applied equitably.”

But the briefing note is clear — they put the text in bold and italics — that “It is important to note that the above estimates did not consider any exemption to the levy.” Even, apparently, on the low end. Matlow would seem to run a real risk of coming up short.

On the spending side too, he’s proposed a mix of capital and operating costs. Some would be temporary and some would be permanent. I’d like to see more detail about the mix.

Matlow’s team tells me they’ve got something coming that will lay out how their various platform planks will congeal into a budget proposal. I’m looking forward to seeing it — both for this very promising environmental plan, and for the rest of Matlow’s promises.

PLATFORM VIEW is a daily(ish) feature by City Hall Watcher on Substack Notes. Got a request for a candidate policy proposal I should review? Let me know.