Public services in Toronto are funded by municipal property taxes, financial transfers from the Government of Ontario and Government of Canada, or are operated and financed by the higher-level governments. Funding for services provided by the municipal government is determined by a vote of the Toronto City Council in favour of the year's proposed operating budget.
 | This section needs to be updated.(January 2019) |
Revenue sources for the city's operational budget consist of transfers and subsidies from the provincial and federal governments ($1.944 B), user fees ($1.205 B) and withdrawals from the reserve fund ($0.5 B). Property taxes represent 42% of the budget ($3.221 B), which is referred to as the Net Operating Budget. [1] All other sources total approximately $1.0 B.
The most significant expenditures are:
All other services individually represent less than 2% of expenditures. [1]
Most students from Toronto receive their primary and secondary education via the public school system, operated by school boards funded by the province via provincial income tax and federal financial transfers to the provincial government. The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) is a public secular English-first language school board. TDSB is the city's largest public school board in the country, operating 451 public schools and 102 secondary or high schools. Other public school boards in Toronto include the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB), a separate English-first language school board; Conseil scolaire Viamonde (CSV), a secular French-first language school board; and Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir, a separate French-first language school board. In addition to schools operated by public school boards, the city is also home to a number of private schools.
There are five diploma-granting community colleges in Toronto: Seneca College, Humber College, Centennial College, Sheridan College and George Brown College. The Royal Conservatory of Music, which includes The Glenn Gould School, is a major music school located in downtown. The Canadian Film Centre is a film, television and new media training institute founded by filmmaker Norman Jewison.
The University of Toronto, established in 1827, is a leading public research institution and a worldwide leader in biomedical research. York University, is another public university located in Toronto, houses the largest law library in the Commonwealth of Nations. Other public universities located in Toronto include OCAD University, Toronto Metropolitan University, and the University of Guelph-Humber. The latter institution was established between the University of Guelph and Humber College. Humber College is a local college based in Toronto, with the University of Guelph located within the Golden Horseshoe.
The city operates an extensive library network. The Toronto Public Library is the largest public library system in Canada and the second busiest (by number of visits) in the world after the Hong Kong Public Library.
Emergency services in the city include the Toronto Fire Services, and the Toronto Paramedic Services. Toronto Fire Services provides fire protection and first-response emergency medical assistance, the Toronto Paramedic Services provides emergency medical services. The Toronto Fire Services, in collaboration with the Toronto Paramedic Services, and the Toronto Police Service, also operates the Heavy Urban Search and Rescue unit, an urban search and rescue response team.
The Toronto Police Service is one of the oldest English-language modern municipal police departments in the world. The law enforcement agency is funded by the municipal government, and represents the second-greatest yearly expenditure in the city's operating budget, after public transit services.
Health services in Toronto are quite extensive, and benefit from the intensive and broad medical research conducted in the city. Hospitals are publicly financed, primarily by the provincial government, but also via federal government transfers to the province, some private sources (e.g. - lotteries) and through charitable and philanthropic donations.
Family doctors have private practices funded by the provincial government. Paramedic and ambulatory services are funded by the city. Also, non-profit palliative care services exist.
There are numerous recreation areas owned and operated by the city, including bicycle and jogging trails, community centres, public squares and urban parks. Many of these facilities are operated by the Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division. It also operates the Toronto Zoo and other public spaces, such as Nathan Phillips Square.
In addition to parks operated by the municipal government, several parks located in Toronto are operated by the provincial, and federal governments. Federally-managed parks include Rouge National Urban Park, a national urban park managed by Parks Canada.
Various modes of transportation are available in the city. Roads within the city are a municipal responsibility, but major highways, such as the 400-series highways, are provincially funded and operated. In the winter, the city provides snow removal services on its roads and on property it owns, such as parking lots at libraries and swimming pools.
The Toronto Transit Commission is the main public transit service provider for the city. Operation of the TTC is funded by the municipal government and user receipts, but infrastructure projects may receive funding from provincial and federal sources. In addition to the TTC, other public transportation services that operate in Toronto includes GO Transit. GO Transit is a regional public transit operator managed by Metrolinx, a Crown agency of the Government of Ontario. Union Station is an intermodal transportation hub located in Downtown Toronto. The station provides access to several transportation services, including GO Transit, and the TTC.
Residential waste collection is collected by private contractors west of Yonge St., and by City of Toronto staff east of Yonge St. Waste collection was outsourced first in Etobicoke prior to the city's amalgamation, and then extended to include the area between Etobicoke and Yonge St. in 2012. [2] There was a proposal to tender similar services east of Yonge that was studied in 2015, then revisited in 2017 before being dropped due to lack of support at city council. [3] Some businesses make separate arrangements for their waste, as do hospitals for some of their waste. Collection includes garbage, recyclable materials, and compostable materials. Hazardous waste is also handled separately.
The city collects organics such as residential and commercial food waste through the green bin program. The organic waste is processed at two anaerobic digestors located at Disco and Dufferin Solid Waste Management Facilities. The city plans to upgrade the biogas produced by the digestors to provide renewable natural gas for city vehicles, starting with waste collection trucks. [4]
Toronto has a vast network to manage water delivery and to process wastewater.
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and largest of the urban transit service providers in the Greater Toronto Area, with numerous connections to systems serving its surrounding municipalities.
North York is a former township and city and is now one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the northern area of Toronto, centred around Yonge Street, north of Ontario Highway 401. It is bounded by York Region to the north at Steeles Avenue, on the west by the Humber River, on the east by Victoria Park Avenue. Its southern boundary is erratic and corresponds to the northern boundaries of the former municipalities of Toronto: York, Old Toronto and East York. As of the 2016 Census, the district has a population of 644,685.
Line 4 Sheppard is the newest and shortest rapid transit line of the Toronto subway system, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It opened on November 22, 2002, and has five stations along 5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi) of track, which is built without any open sections in the district of North York along Sheppard Avenue East between Yonge Street and Don Mills Road. All stations are wheelchair accessible and are decorated with unique public art.
The Toronto subway is a rapid transit system serving Toronto and the neighbouring city of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). As of September 2023, the subway system is a rail network consisting of three heavy-capacity rail lines operating predominantly underground. As of December 2022, three new lines are under construction: two light rail lines and one subway line.
Newtonbrook is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the area around Yonge Street and Finch Avenue in the district of North York between the east and west branches of the Don River. Officially, the area is divided into two neighbourhoods; Newtonbrook West and Newtonbrook East.
Willowdale is a neighbourhood in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located in the district of North York. It developed from three postal villages: Newtonbrook, Willowdale and Lansing.
York Region Transit (YRT) is the public transit operator in York Region, Ontario, Canada. Its headquarters are in Richmond Hill, at 50 High Tech Road.
The Toronto and York Radial Railway was a transit operator providing services to the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was a subsidiary of the Toronto Railway Company. The company was created by merging four Toronto-area interurban operations. The company was part of the empire of railway entrepreneurs Sir William Mackenzie and Donald Mann which included the Canadian Northern Railway and the parent Toronto Railway Company. The line was abandoned by the TTC in 1948.
Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC) was the public transit operator in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, beginning in 1921. It operated buses, streetcars and the island ferries. The system was renamed the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) in 1954.
Eglinton Avenue is a major east–west arterial thoroughfare in Toronto and Mississauga in the Canadian province of Ontario. The street begins at Highway 407 at the western limits of Mississauga, as a continuation of Lower Baseline in Milton. It traverses the midsection of both cities and ends at Kingston Road. Eglinton Avenue is the only street to cross all six former cities and boroughs of Metropolitan Toronto.
The history of public transportation in Toronto in Canada dates back to the middle 19th century under many different private companies, organizations and owners, which were all later unified as a single government-run entity during the 1920s.
The municipal government of Toronto is the local government responsible for administering the city of Toronto in the Canadian province of Ontario. Its structure and powers are set out in the City of Toronto Act.
Transportation in the Canadian city of Toronto forms the hub of the road, rail and air networks in the Greater Toronto Area and much of southern Ontario. There are many forms of transport in the city, including railways, highways, and public transit. Toronto also has an extensive network of bicycle lanes and multi-use trails and paths.
Humbermede, often called Emery, is a neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Humbermede, like many of the "Humber" neighbourhoods in the city, gets its name from the Humber River. It is bounded on the west by the Humber River, on the north by Finch Avenue West, on the east by the Highway 400 and on the south by Sheppard Avenue West.
Lawrence Manor is a neighbourhood in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This neighbourhood is bounded by Bathurst Street on the east, Highway 401 to the north, the Allen to the west, and Lawrence Avenue to the south. The western side of the area borders along Bathurst Heights and the large public housing project.
Lansing is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It originated as a minor settlement of a store, other services, and a post office at the corner of Yonge Street and Sheppard Avenue, was later designated a postal village, and was finally consolidated with its fellow postal villages, Newtonbrook and Willowdale, into a new postal village named Willowdale within the Township of North York. For neighbourhood planning purposes, the City of Toronto, which North York was amalgamated into in 1998, labels Lansing as Lansing-Westgate. Its boundaries are Yonge Street to the east, Highway 401 to the south, Bathurst Street to the west, and Burnett Avenue to the north.
David Raymond Miller is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 63rd mayor of Toronto from 2003 to 2010.
Transit City was a plan for developing public transport in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was first proposed and announced on March 16, 2007 by Toronto mayor David Miller and Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) chair Adam Giambrone. The plan called for the construction of seven new light rail lines along the streets of seven priority transit corridors, which would have eventually been integrated with existing rapid transit, streetcar, and bus routes. Other transit improvements outlined in the plan included upgrading and extending the Scarborough RT line, implementing new bus rapid transit lines, and improving frequency and timing of 21 key bus routes. The plan integrated public transportation objectives outlined in the City of Toronto Official Plan, the TTC Ridership Growth Strategy and Miller's 2006 election platform.
The city of Markham in Ontario, Canada, offers a complex transportation infrastructure. These include airports, highways, public transit, regional roads, municipality-funded roads, and train services.
The City of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada offers a complex transportation infrastructure, which includes highways, public transit, regional roads, municipality-funded roads, and train services.
