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Economy

Taxpayers Federation: Canada’s largest city overpaying for construction $350 million a year

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From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation

Author: Jay Goldberg 

Favouring unions costs taxpayers dearly

They say less is more, especially when it comes to budgeting. Apparently, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow never got the memo.

Canada’s largest city keeps overpaying on construction projects, to the tune of $350 million a year. The reason, in many cases, is that only union-affiliated firms need apply.

With modest construction contracting reform, Toronto could save a bundle and see property taxes frozen for 2025.

Over the past two years, Toronto politicians voted to increase property taxes by a whopping 18 per cent. Last year’s increase alone was 9.5 per cent.

Because of these massive property tax increases, many families were pushed to the brink.

Property tax bills for most Torontonians soared by hundreds of dollars over the past two years.

Yet so much of this pain could have been avoided with a little common-sense policymaking.

Would you refuse to even consider quotes from a non-unionized company? Or would you get quotes from everyone and then make your decision?

To nearly everyone on the planet other than Toronto’s zany politicians, the choice is obvious.

But when you’re a Toronto politician spending other people’s money, apparently open competition to find the best deal isn’t a priority.

Right now, Toronto uses a closed-tendering approach to award contracts for some of the city’s most expensive construction projects. That means only a handful of companies associated with a small group of unions can bid on those jobs.

Cardus, a non-partisan thinktank, released a report last year projecting Toronto was poised to award $1.7 billion in construction projects through a closed tendering process in 2023. Because Toronto only allows a small number of unionized construction companies to bid on those jobs, the cost goes up.

In fact, Cardus estimated Toronto taxpayers were set to overpay on construction projects in 2023 to the tune of $350 million due to a lack of competition.

Closed tendering used to be the norm in Ontario. Every city across the province overpaid on construction projects to cater to big unions.

That all changed in 2019, when the Ford government passed legislation allowing municipalities to open up the construction contracting process to real competition.

Sadly, Toronto has thus far chosen not to take advantage of the Ford government’s legislative reforms to save a boatload of cash.

But nearby cities sure have.

Consider the example of Hamilton.

Hamilton was one of the first cities in Ontario to take advantage of the Ford government’s reforms. Cardus estimates Hamilton is saving 21 per cent on its construction projects because the city opened up its contracting process. This single reform did a great deal to improve the city’s bottom line.

Yet Toronto politicians appear stuck in the past. During last year’s mayoral by-election, only two candidates, Councillor Brad Bradford and Anthony Furey, pledged to follow Hamilton in reforming construction contracts.

There has been no indication from Chow, who won that by-election, that this common-sense reform is even on the table.

Last year, Chow and council increased property taxes by 9.5 per cent, the highest property tax hike in Toronto’s history.

Had Chow implemented construction reform and saved the $350 million Cardus pointed to, last year’s property tax increase could have been wiped out entirely.

Think about that. Chow had a choice: save money through competitive bidding or hammer taxpayers with a huge tax hike.

The mayor picked the tax hike.

To break the cycle of massive property tax hikes, it’s high time Toronto looked at construction contract reform.

Taxpayers shouldn’t put up with politicians overpaying on construction contracts to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a year, only to see those same politicians turn around and impose record property tax hikes.

This isn’t just a problem restricted to Toronto: taxpayers from British Columbia to Quebec themselves face similar anti-competitive policies at the provincial level.

It’s time for politicians to put taxpayers, not unions, first.

Chow should implement common-sense construction contracting reforms to head off a massive property tax increase in 2025.

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Economy

US strategy to broker peace in Congo and Rwanda – backed by rare earth minerals deal

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MXM logo MxM News

Quick Hit:

Senior Trump advisor Massad Boulos says the U.S. is brokering a peace deal between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda that will be paired with “Ukraine-style” mineral agreements to stabilize the war-torn region.

Key Details:

  • The U.S. wants Congo and Rwanda to sign a peace treaty and, on the same day, finalize critical mineral supply deals with Washington. Boulos told Reuters that both deals are expected within two months.

  • Rwanda’s side of the treaty involves halting support for M23 insurgents, while the DRC has pledged to address Rwanda’s concerns about the Hutu-dominated FDLR militant group.

  • DRC President Tshisekedi has floated the idea of giving the U.S. exclusive access to Congolese minerals in exchange for help against M23. “Our partnership would provide the U.S. with a strategic advantage,” he wrote in a letter to President Trump.

Diving Deeper:

According to a Thursday report from Reuters, President Donald Trump’s administration is accelerating efforts to finalize a dual-track strategy in central Africa—pushing for a peace agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, while simultaneously brokering “Ukraine-style” mineral deals with both nations.

Massad Boulos, Trump’s senior adviser on Africa, told Reuters that the administration expects the mineral agreement with Congo to be signed on the same day as the peace treaty, followed shortly by a separate deal with Rwanda. “The [agreement] with the DRC is at a much bigger scale, because it’s a much bigger country and it has much more resources,” Boulos explained, while noting Rwanda’s potential in refining and trading minerals is also significant.

The DRC and Rwanda have set a tight timetable, agreeing to exchange draft treaty proposals on May 2nd and finalize the accord by mid-May. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to preside over the next round of negotiations in Washington.

Rwanda’s cooperation hinges on its withdrawal of support for M23 rebels, who have taken over key territories in eastern Congo. These insurgents have even paraded through captured towns alongside Rwandan troops, prompting international condemnation. In return, Congo has committed to addressing Rwanda’s longstanding concern over the presence of the FDLR—a militant group composed largely of Hutu fighters accused of plotting to overthrow Rwanda’s Tutsi-led government. The FDLR has been active in the region for years and remains a major point of contention.

The instability in eastern Congo—home to over a hundred armed groups—has prevented investors from tapping into the country’s vast mineral wealth. The DRC holds an estimated $24 trillion in untapped resources, including cobalt, copper, lithium, and tantalum, all essential for advanced electronics, renewable energy systems, and defense applications. Boulos emphasized that no deal will go forward unless the region is pacified: “Investors want security before they invest billions.”

Reports suggest M23 has seized control of major mining operations, funneling stolen minerals into Rwanda’s supply chain. Though the UN’s peacekeeping mission, MONUSCO, was designed to stabilize the region, it has been ineffective during this latest wave of violence. President Tshisekedi asked the mission to withdraw last year, and several countries—including South Africa, Malawi, and Tanzania—are now pulling their peacekeepers after M23 captured the regional capital of Goma in January.

Red Cross teams began evacuating trapped Congolese soldiers and their families from rebel-held areas on Wednesday. At least 17 UN peacekeepers have been killed so far this year.

In a March letter to President Trump, President Tshisekedi made his case for a strategic partnership, offering exclusive U.S. access to Congo’s mineral wealth in exchange for American support against the insurgency. “Your election has ushered in the golden age for America,” he wrote, describing the proposed deal as a “strategic advantage” for the United States.

Boulos, who has longstanding business ties in Africa, quickly visited the DRC following the letter and began working to finalize the terms of the proposed agreement.

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Business

Overregulation is choking Canadian businesses, says the MEI

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  From the Montreal Economic Institute

The federal government’s growing regulatory burden on businesses is holding Canada back and must be urgently reviewed, argues a new publication from the MEI released this morning.

“Regulation creep is a real thing, and Ottawa has been fuelling it for decades,” says Krystle Wittevrongel, director of research at the MEI and coauthor of the Viewpoint. “Regulations are passed but rarely reviewed, making it burdensome to run a business, or even too costly to get started.”

Between 2006 and 2021, the number of federal regulatory requirements in Canada rose by 37 per cent, from 234,200 to 320,900. This is estimated to have reduced real GDP growth by 1.7 percentage points, employment growth by 1.3 percentage points, and labour productivity by 0.4 percentage points, according to recent Statistics Canada data.

Small businesses are disproportionately impacted by the proliferation of new regulations.

In 2024, firms with fewer than five employees pay over $10,200 per employee in regulatory and red tape compliance costs, compared to roughly $1,400 per employee for businesses with 100 or more employees, according to data from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

Overall, Canadian businesses spend 768 million hours a year on compliance, which is equivalent to almost 394,000 full-time jobs. The costs to the economy in 2024 alone were over $51.5 billion.

It is hardly surprising in this context that entrepreneurship in Canada is on the decline. In the year 2000, 3 out of every 1,000 Canadians started a business. By 2022, that rate had fallen to just 1.3, representing a nearly 57 per cent drop since 2000.

The impact of regulation in particular is real: had Ottawa maintained the number of regulations at 2006 levels, Canada would have seen about 10 per cent more business start-ups in 2021, according to Statistics Canada.

The MEI researcher proposes a practical way to reevaluate the necessity of these regulations, applying a model based on the Chrétien government’s 1995 Program Review.

In the 1990s, the federal government launched a review process aimed at reducing federal spending. Over the course of two years, it successfully eliminated $12 billion in federal spending, a reduction of 9.7 per cent, and restored fiscal balance.

A similar approach applied to regulations could help identify rules that are outdated, duplicative, or unjustified.

The publication outlines six key questions to evaluate existing or proposed regulations:

  1. What is the purpose of the regulation?
  2. Does it serve the public interest?
  3. What is the role of the federal government and is its intervention necessary?
  4. What is the expected economic cost of the regulation?
  5. Is there a less costly or intrusive way to solve the problem the regulation seeks to address?
  6. Is there a net benefit?

According to OECD projections, Canada is expected to experience the lowest GDP per capita growth among advanced economies through 2060.

“Canada has just lived through a decade marked by weak growth, stagnant wages, and declining prosperity,” says Ms. Wittevrongel. “If policymakers are serious about reversing this trend, they must start by asking whether existing regulations are doing more harm than good.”

The MEI Viewpoint is available here.

* * *

The MEI is an independent public policy think tank with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, and Calgary. Through its publications, media appearances, and advisory services to policymakers, the MEI stimulates public policy debate and reforms based on sound economics and entrepreneurship.

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