Toronto Board of Trade

Posted by: Mary de Reus


Our annual Compensation Surveys have just been released and they show that executives in the Toronto region continue to receive substantial wage increases of more than twice the rate of inflation. You can read the media release on our website HERE.

What I find most interesting about this year’s results is how the use of bonuses and incentives has become ingrained in executive compensation. Our survey of organizations across the Toronto region found that two-thirds (67%) of them offer their executives some type of bonus or incentive. The executives in those companies almost all get to collect that extra compensation, with 91% getting a bonus this year.

Does this mean that virtually all executives are meeting or exceeding their organizational goals? Or, are organizations setting relatively low standards so that executives can expect bonuses for something less than excellence?

I suspect that both explanations have some truth to them. The Toronto region is doing well economically (the GTA much more so than Toronto proper), so it stands to reason that many organizations and executives are hitting their targets. However, the use of bonuses has become so common that this extra payment may now be seen as more of an entitlement than an incentive.

If this, in fact, the case, employers are challenged to find additional ways of providing incentives to senior ranks. Necessity is the mother of invention and I have faith that the leadership of the future will create the tools required (I guess paying bonuses in U.S. dollars won’t do the trick anymore!).

The common use of bonuses is one of the trends we will be following each year, as we look at data from hundreds of organizations, associations, governments and other sources, covering more than 50,000 employees. Employers need to know how their competition is attracting and retaining the top talent needed for success, and that’s one of the key uses for our six-volume set of surveys.


Mary de Reus is a Vice-President of the Toronto Board of Trade and oversees the Board’s HR Surveys & Programs Department

Labels: compensation, de Reus

Posted by: Carol Wilding

The Toronto Board of Trade is working hard to obtain the answer to a vital question in this provincial election campaign – Who cares about Toronto? Which party and leader will tackle the challenges facing our city and business community?

Over the past two weeks, your Board of Trade has been the only organization in Toronto to have the three major party leaders address our membership. More importantly, we challenged all three to respond directly to our election agenda:

1. Create a better climate for economic growth through tax reform,
2. Invest in public transit to relieve congestion, and
3. Upload social program costs from city taxpayers back to the province.

The Leaders Respond!

Here, in order of their appearances, are the leaders’ responses to our election agenda…

TBOT Agenda	NDP Response	Liberal Response	PC Response
Economic growth o Eliminate the Ontario capital tax immediately o Reform PST to a value-added tax	Neither idea was addressed in Mr. Hampton’s speech.	Neither idea was addressed in Mr. McGuinty’s speech (previously committed to eliminating the capital tax by July, 2010).	Pledged to follow the existing schedule for capital tax elimination at minimum and to speed it up if possible. Did not address PST reform
Public transit o Return to the fair share funding formula for public transit o Provide the GTTA with the tools and powers it needs	Pledged to implement the City’s transit vision by 2012 and to share transit operating costs equally with the City. Dismissed the GTTA as an ineffective body.	Neither idea was addressed in Mr. McGuinty’s speech (repeated existing commitment to ‘Move Ontario’ plan).	Pledged to increase transit funding to $800M/year in Ontario by 2011 through gas/fuel taxes. Pledged to provide GTTA with funding and an ‘improved’ mandate.
Upload social program costs	Pledged to upload several programs in his first term and to meet all contracted costs.	Pledged to upload drug and disability benefits program costs, and follow up on provincial review.	Pledged to speed up provincial review and start uploading before 2008 municipal budgets.

TBOT’s Election Agenda – Standing up for you and your business

You can read the media release about our election priorities HERE. Toronto must remain a great global city with a thriving economy and high quality of life to continue contributing to our province. However, that status is at risk; Toronto has lost tens of thousands of jobs and our economic growth lags the provincial and national averages.

Progress To Date - Our Vote Toronto program is making an impact!

· In August, the Province announced the transfer of Ontario Disability Support Payment and Ontario Drug Benefits Program funding back to the Province over the next four years. This decision will provide the City with approximately $30M-$40M in relief for 2008.

· Uploading is now an important provincial election issue. The major parties have stated publicly that social services and social housing should not be funded through the property tax base. All have promised to address this issue, but differ on the approach and timing.

· Transit funding prospects have improved. The government launched Move Ontario 2020, a $17.5B initiative ($11.5B committed). Opposition parties have made large dollar transit commitments. John Tory proposed a further dedication of gas tax to support transportation/transit and Howard Hampton committed to cost sharing of transit operating costs.

Our Next Steps

The end of our Leaders’ series does not spell the end of our election activities. We will continue to promote your issues and keep you informed.

Visit our website's special Election page (www.bot.com/election) for information about upcoming events, such as our Election Fest local candidate debates, and for responses to our leaders’ survey, expected soon.

Your Board of Trade will continue working to provide you with the information you need to make an informed decision on October 10^th. Again, I urge you to take that opportunity to Vote Toronto by backing the candidate and party you believe will help Toronto remain a great global city.

Carol Wilding is President & CEO of the Toronto Board of Trade.

Labels: election, Vote Toronto, Wilding

Posted by: Glen Stone


In a time when people often say that the only constant is change, you don't often hear about a business being around for dozens or hundreds of years. For example, people are often amazed to learn that the Toronto Board of Trade has been on the scene since 1845.

But a business in Japan took the cake with a continuous history of more than 1,400 years!

Unfortunately, the world's oldest family business is no more. It's gone bankrupt and been taken over by a larger company.

Lessons learned about how to keep a business alive for centuries, and how to drive it into the ground in a mere decade, are the subject of this fascinating Business Week article.


Glen Stone is Public Affairs Manager for the Toronto Board of Trade.

Posted by: Carol Wilding


It was an unusual and important week for Toronto – three budgets in seven days. The Toronto, provincial and federal governments all introduced financial plans that directly affect our business community and our city.

Now that we’ve had time to analyze all three plans, we’ve provided a quick summary report for our members. Here’s my more detailed take on the seven days that helped shape our future …


This week began with a federal budget that contained some welcome news for Toronto business – reductions in capital cost allowances for some sectors and increased investment in skills and education to help build a stronger workforce. However, the Harper government missed the opportunity to make Canada more competitive by not reducing corporate income tax rates.

More importantly, the federal budget did NOT include a national transit strategy or funding to address the number one concern of business in Toronto – congestion and gridlock. The recent subway funding announcement was appreciated but it’s not a substitute for a properly funded long term plan.

The commitment to increase transfer funding for Ontario gave us hope that the province would use the extra billion dollars it was getting to upload the costs of social programs and housing off the backs of property taxpayers in Toronto.

However, the provincial budget three days later did not contain any uploading for the City (the end of ‘pooling’ for the 905 communities helps ease regional political tensions but was revenue neutral for Toronto). There was also no movement on a return to the fair share funding formula for public transit costs.

The Ontario budget did contain the biggest win of all three budgets for our business community – significant reform of provincial business property taxes. We’ve been saying for years that the unfair system, which punished business for locating in Toronto, had to be reformed. This budget tackles that problem head-on and will put more than $230 million back into the business community to re-invest in our economy.

There was also good news in the acceleration of plans to eliminate the capital tax by two years, a step that built on the federal budget cuts.

Finally, the Toronto budget reflected the lack of action by other governments, as well as the impact of the City’s own choices in recent years to increase spending and taxes.

The City itself described its operating budget as ‘unsustainable’ – an apt word, since Toronto cannot continue going further into debt, draining reserves, raising taxes and increasing spending. This budget underlined the city of Toronto’s serious financial problems, which are going to require fundamental changes.

Despite some initial steps towards increasing efficiency (efficiency audits, benchmarking and more cost recovery), the City’s net budget is increasing by 9.3% this year and tax hikes are being used to fill the budget gap.

The Mayor did live up to his promise to keep the property tax hike for business to one-third the residential rate, but that will still add more than $23 million a year to the business tax burden. This in a city that already faces the highest property taxes in the GTA and among the highest in North America.

In addition, the City is accelerating the possible introduction of other new or increased taxes, such as road tolls and levies on entertainment, parking lots, alcohol and tobacco.

With only nine of the 49 City budget envelopes meeting the demand to hold the line on spending, it is clear that City Hall can be doing more to control its costs. However, it is equally clear that it cannot deal with Toronto’s problems all by itself. All three levels of government have contributed to Toronto’s difficult situation, and all three need to take responsibility for addressing these challenges.

After three budgets in seven days, the Toronto business community has some federal and provincial tax breaks to offset the impact of another municipal tax hike. The engine of the Canadian economy has had some fuel added.

However, the long-term issue of the city of Toronto’s financial dilemma must be solved in order to improve Toronto’s business climate and quality of life.


Carol Wilding is President & CEO of the Toronto Board of Trade

Posted by: Glen Stone

Nearly a BILLION dollars. That's how much the federal government is investing in public transit in the Toronto region.

The Board of Trade and others have been saying for years that Ottawa must step up to the plate with investments of this size, and we issued a media release that praised all governments involved.

However ...

One-time, project-driven funding - no matter how big - is not going to do the trick when it comes to solving the traffic congestion problem. That's going to require an extra billion dollars EVERY YEAR, and strategic planning at both the national and provincial level to make sure that money is spent in the smartest way (we talk about this stuff in more detail in our provincial and federal budget submissions).

Sure, it's hard to look a gift horse in the mouth, particularly when the gift horse is the size of an elephant. But the Board of Trade's job is to stand up for the best interests of Toronto's business community, even when that might get some politicians or others mad at us.

So, thanks very much for the billion dollars! Now, let's talk about a real, strategic, permanent solution ...

Glen Stone is Public Affairs Manager for the Toronto Board of Trade

On February 15 2007, the Board held its annual City Council Luncheon with Mayor David Miller and many City Councillors and senior staff in attendance.

Board Chair Becky McKinnon delivered a speech that promised Council both cooperation and constructive criticism. Here are some excerpts:

"This is our first Luncheon with the new City Council, and the first time we’ve gathered since the historic changes of Toronto’s new governance model and the City of Toronto Act ... Please know that you can count on the cooperation of the Board of Trade as you seek to improve local government services in this new world.

Mind you, you can also count on our constructive criticism and suggestions for improvements. The Toronto Board of Trade has a clear mandate to serve, represent and unite Toronto’s business community, and we will continue to serve as its voice.

At times, that will mean challenging decisions or policies from Council – not because we disagree with your intentions, but to point out better alternatives for reaching those goals.

The Mayor’s intentions, as clearly outlined in his election platform and inaugural speech, are quite close to the Board’s priorities for Toronto. He speaks of ‘prosperity, liveability and opportunity’ … we speak of ‘competitiveness, liveability and sustainability’.

Both the Toronto government and the Board share the goal of building a better city with a stronger economy and a higher quality of life. Our concern is ensuring that the best path towards that goal is chosen. We want to be certain that the logical steps are taken in this effort – building a more competitive business climate, developing the infrastructure Toronto needs, and improving local government."

============

"I want to conclude today by offering Mayor Miller the Board’s perspective about some of the challenges we must face together as citizens of Toronto.

As someone once said, “There is good news, and there is bad news.”

The good news is that the Mayor has lived up to his pledge to create the Economic Competitiveness Advisory Committee. We take this and the creation of the economic development committee of Council as very positive signs. They show that the City is dedicated to addressing the vital challenge of making Toronto a more competitive home for business, investment and jobs.

The bad news is that Toronto’s economic strategy has not been updated in seven years, and there is a tremendous amount of catching up to do.

In another example, there is good news on business property taxes, with the City implementing a plan to make the system fairer by slowly bringing tax ratios in line with other jurisdictions.

However, the bad news is that the City’s plan will still see business property taxes rates, already among the highest in North America, continue to increase for 14 years. Clearly, we need to get to a tax situation that is both fairer AND more competitive.

But the best news of all is that there are so many areas where the Board and the City can work together for the good of Toronto, its people and its business community.

From unfair provincial downloading, to the fiscal gap with the federal government … from the need for a national transit strategy to the key role of the new Greater Toronto Transportation Authority … and, from cleaner, safer streets to more opportunities for young people from vulnerable areas.

On these, and many other grounds, we can work together for mutual gain."


Becky McKinnon is Chair of the Toronto Board of Trade

Posted by: Glen Stone


The Toronto Board of Trade is celebrating its 162nd birthday, having been founded by an act of Parliament back on February 10, 1845.

You might expect that a lot of things have changed in this city in 162 years, but many Torontonians may not know just how wild this place was back in 1845.

The Toronto of that day was a dangerous and corrupt place, with no real police force (the few constables were directly employed by City Aldermen, who used them to help retain their political power).

The city was only a dozen years old and had just 15,000 inhabitants, but it boasted more than 140 taverns -- nearly one for every hundred people!

The crime rate was high and some areas of the city, such as the Market Block off King Street East, were highly dangerous. One of the big stories of 1845 was the discovery of a murdered man, found with a hole in his heart, standing up in one of the notorious Market Block alleyways. The murder was never solved ...

Even more dangerous were the religious and political tensions in 1845 Toronto. Upper and Lower Canada had just been forced into partnership as 'United Canada', with what is now Ontario known as 'Western Canada'. The new idea of responsible government was not going down well with Toronto's power brokers.

It had been less than a decade since the 1837 Rebellions and the Catholic vs. Protestant, Tory vs. Reformer, resident vs. immigrant violence was frequent and bloody. There were street fights, violent protests, murders and out-and-out riots.

One incident of political violence, witnessed by Charles Dickens, visiting the city in 1842, led to new restrictions on the licensing of Toronto's taverns, which were hotbeds of political intrigue, violence and bribery. The tough new rules, followed over the decades to come with crackdowns on law-breaking and corruption, were the start of our reputation as 'Toronto the Good'.

Despite these problems, and the frequent fires that kept destroying much of what is now downtown Toronto (1832, 1834, 1849, 1854, 1866, etc. 1849 was particularly bad), and the typhus and cholera outbreaks ... Toronto was beginning to grow and thrive. We were becoming a major trading point, shipping grain and other goods to Britain and other destinations.

In 1845, the city had just introduced gas street lamps, built its first City Hall (you can find a bit of it in the southern building at St. Lawrence Market), introduced a public water system with 12 fire hydrants and upgraded Yonge Street to a gravel road.

Prominent business leader George Percival Ridout, whose hardware store later became Aikendhead's, pushed to have the city's informal business association (started in 1834) formally recognized by Parliament, the House of Assembly in Montreal. Ridout became the first Chairman of the Toronto Board of Trade. One of our meeting rooms is still named in his honour.

As Toronto has changed and grown, so has the Board of Trade; from 46 original members to more than ten thousand businesses and individuals, making us the largest local chamber of commerce in Canada.

One thing that hasn't changed, though, is the spirit of our original 1845 mandate: "to foster the economic and social welfare of the City of Toronto". Or, as we put it these days, to help business in Toronto to succeed, and to help build a better city.

Happy birthday to us!


Glen Stone is Public Affairs Manager for the Toronto Board of Trade