{"id":22488,"date":"2011-09-12T12:01:45","date_gmt":"2011-09-12T16:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=22488"},"modified":"2013-01-21T14:07:53","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T19:07:53","slug":"ford-takes-the-money-and-runs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/09\/12\/ford-takes-the-money-and-runs\/","title":{"rendered":"Ford takes the money and runs"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Here\u2019s a question for budget chair Mike Del Grande: How does the Ford administration spell renege?<\/p>\n

Answer: P-O-R-T-L-A-N-D-S.<\/p>\n

During last Tuesday\u2019s shameful executive committee \u201cdebate\u201d over Doug Ford\u2019s scheme to redevelop the Port Lands, Del Grande noted, candidly, that if the city can extract itself from its arrangement with Waterfront Toronto, then proceeds from the sale of city-owned lands will flow into municipal coffers rather than those of the agency mandated to carry out the revitalization. A cash grab, in other words.<\/p>\n

Ergo the first recommendation in the staff report, which calls on council to authorize city officials to renegotiate the 2006 memorandum of understanding<\/a> [PDF] between the City of Toronto, TEDCO and Waterfront Toronto \u2013 the justification (pretext) being that the latter had its chance but achieved nothing.*<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth pausing here to note some of the language in that MOU, which looks and reads to my layman\u2019s eyes like a formal contractual relationship between three legally constituted corporations, one of which is partly owned by the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

4.2. TWRC [i.e. Waterfront Toronto] shall invest its revenues from land transfers (freehold or leasehold) and other activities back into the Revitalization Initiative in accordance with Business and Implementation Plans, the rolling ten year financial forecast and the financial and accounting framework agreed to by the three orders of government.<\/p>\n

5.2(d). TWRC shall use all proceeds from the sale of TEDCO [now Toronto Port Lands Company] Lands and all rents or other proceeds from the long-term leasing of TEDCO Lands (which, to be clear, does not include the TEDCO Projects) for purposes of the Revitalization Initiative in the manner described in Section 4.2.<\/p>\n

7.6(a) TWRC shall continue with and work diligently to complete the assembly of the lands required for Commissioners Park and the Don Greenway [now the proposed Don mouth estuary]. A significant portion of the lands required for these parks is owned by TEDCO.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What\u2019s more, as the 2006 staff report accompanying the MOU made clear<\/a> [PDF], \u201cThe value of all lands contributed by each government is to be recognized and accounted for as part of the respective government\u2019s overall contribution to waterfront renewal in accordance with a tri-government Accounting Protocol.\u201d<\/p>\n

So to recap: the Fords are proposing to pull out of a contract that not only creates a framework to allow Waterfront Toronto to leverage land sale revenues to further redevelopment effort, but also specifies the precise nature of the City of Toronto\u2019s contribution to the $1.5 billion tri-partite revitalization agreement negotiated by Mel Lastman, Mike Harris and Jean Chretien in 2001. While Queen\u2019s Park and the feds agreed to contribute cash, the City would provide its end of the deal both in cash and in kind (i.e., with real estate).<\/p>\n

The feds and the province have certainly held up their ends of the deal. According to Waterfront Toronto, as of March 31, 2011<\/a>, the Government of Canada had contributed $458.9 million to date while the Government of Ontario had invested $330 million (48% and 34% of the total spending to date). The City of Toronto, although the primary beneficiary, has kicked in just $176 million (18%).<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s happening, in effect, is that two of the three shareholders in Waterfront Toronto have already made substantial cash outlays, while the third is now looking to weasel out of its pledged commitment.<\/p>\n

In any such arrangements, one party invests in the belief that the other party will keep its word. Indeed, let\u2019s transpose this scenario to the business world, which, as the Fords never fail to remind us, is their source of inspiration. Say three partners negotiated a contract to invest both cash and land (or equipment or any other tangible asset) in some kind of business deal, and then one of them decides to pull out well into the venture but before delivering on its promised share.<\/p>\n

We know exactly what would happen. The partner who tried to fleece the other two would be sued up the ying-yang for breach of contract. And they\u2019d emerge from said legal dispute with a serious reputation problem.<\/p>\n

I have no idea whether Queen\u2019s Park or Ottawa, as Waterfront Toronto\u2019s other shareholders, would at some point move to seek legal remedies against the City if council does endorse this enormously cynical scheme next week. But what is clear is that, above and beyond the massive damage and delay and cost associated with the Fords\u2019 gambit, the City of Toronto will have proven itself to be an utterly untrustworthy partner.<\/p>\n

As veteran businessmen, the brothers Ford surely know the type: the sort of company that places a great big order, takes delivery and then refuses to pay or skips town with the inventory.<\/p>\n

Faced with such a situation at Deco Labels and Tags, they wouldn\u2019t hesitate to call in the collection agencies and fire off legal letters.<\/p>\n

At City Hall, however, they appear to have no qualms about breaking agreements, contractual or otherwise. Those earlier deals, it would seem, are no longer worth the paper they\u2019re written on.<\/p>\n

photo by Miles Storey<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

_______________<\/p>\n

* The staff report invokes section 17.3 of the MOU, which states:<\/p>\n

“If at any time the City is of the view that there is insufficient commitment, financial or otherwise, on the part of TWRC, Ontario and Canada for TWRC to continue with the revitalization the East Bayfront lands or the Port Lands, the City may give notice to this effect (the \u201cCity Notice\u201d) to TWRC, Canada and Ontario.<\/em><\/p>\n

If the City’s concerns cannot be addressed to the City\u2019s satisfaction, the parties will consider other options for revitalization of the TEDCO Lands. If, within six months after the date of the City Notice, the parties have not come to an agreement on other options, the City on 90 days notice may terminate this MOU as it relates to TEDCO Lands in East Bayfront and the Port Lands other than lands for which signed contribution agreements are in place.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

But it conveniently neglects to mention that the agreement also contains an elaborate dispute resolution provision (16.1):<\/p>\n

In the event of any Dispute, such Dispute shall be resolved in accordance with the following procedure (the \u201cDispute Resolution Procedure\u201d):<\/p>\n

(a) the parties directly involved (the \u201cInvolved Parties\u201d) first shall attempt to resolve the Dispute through good faith negotiation between such parties working through the Waterfront Liaison Committee;<\/em><\/p>\n

(b) failing resolution of the Dispute through negotiation within 15 days after the Waterfront Liaison Committee becomes involved in efforts to resolve the Dispute, any Involved Party, by written notice to the other Involved Party or Parties (the \u201cStep-Up Notice\u201d), may request that the Involved Parties refer the Dispute to an independent third party (the \u201cExpert\u201d) who is an expert in the subject area of the Dispute, who is mutually acceptable to the Involved Parties, and who shall endeavour to achieve a mediated resolution of the Dispute; and<\/em><\/p>\n

(c) if the Involved Parties fail to select a mutually acceptable Expert within ten (10) days after the Step-Up Notice has been given, or if the Expert fails to achieve a mediated resolution of the Dispute within 15 days after the Dispute is referred to the Expert, then any of the Involved Parties may, upon written notice to the other Involved Party or Parties, cause the Dispute to be submitted, by way of a report, to City Council, whose decision shall be final and binding upon the parties, it being acknowledged that the other orders of government are not bound by such decision<\/strong> [emphasis added].<\/em><\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s a question for budget chair Mike Del Grande: How does the Ford administration spell renege? Answer: P-O-R-T-L-A-N-D-S. During last Tuesday\u2019s shameful executive committee \u201cdebate\u201d over Doug Ford\u2019s scheme to redevelop the Port Lands, Del Grande noted, candidly, that if the city can extract itself from its arrangement with Waterfront Toronto, then proceeds from theContinue reading “Ford takes the money and runs”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4051,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[18369,4064,4801,457,756,18370,1174,16543,45,14415,5995,18371,12521,551,1435,1529,665,636,346,416,1504,316,672,19,18358,18372,391,9263],"class_list":["post-22488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-at-city-hall","tag-budget-chair","tag-businessmen","tag-canada","tag-city-council","tag-financial-and-accounting-framework","tag-ford","tag-ford-administration","tag-funding-cities","tag-government-of-canada","tag-government-of-ontario","tag-involved-party","tag-jean-chretien","tag-mel-lastman","tag-mike-del-grande","tag-mike-harris","tag-miles-storey","tag-ontario","tag-ottawa","tag-pdf","tag-port-lands","tag-queen","tag-real-estate","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-port-lands-company","tag-tri-government-accounting-protocol","tag-usd","tag-waterfront-toronto"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFord takes the money and runs - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/09\/12\/ford-takes-the-money-and-runs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ford takes the money and runs - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here\u2019s a question for budget chair Mike Del Grande: How does the Ford administration spell renege? 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