‘Our place of peace ... we’ll never feel the same’ Heartbreaking return to Quebec City mosque metroNEWS
Toronto Your essential daily news
TWINS
MOTHERHOOD, AS DECREED BY QUEEN BEY metroLIFE
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017
High -3°C/Low -10°C Mix of sun and cloud
LOST AT SEA Family of Toronto filmmaker fearing the worst, but still ‘have hope’
metroNEWS
Rob Stewart, best known for his documentary “Sharkwater.” SCREENGRAB
Toronto’s patio life threatened LICENSING
Proposed fee hikes could reach 1,000% for businesses You could call it a war on fun in Toronto. A city staff proposal to dramatically boost fees charged to operate sidewalk cafés and patios is being called just that
with some restaurant and bar owners predicting it will lead to fewer outdoor spaces for residents to eat and drink. Toronto has a history of “that Puritan, no-fun culture, unfortunately,” and these proposed fee hikes continue in that tradition, says Richard Pope, owner of Northwood on Bloor Street West, near Christie Street. His $1,400-a-year patio permit fee would jump to about $14,000 annually under the proposal.
“They don’t want to come out and say, ‘We’re going to kill fun in this city.’ They want to make it like it’s us choosing not to have patios because of the fee, when financially it doesn’t make sense.” City licensing staff insist nothing has been decided and the proposed fee hikes for patio serving alcohol of, in some cases, more than 1,000 per cent for the use of public property, are part of a broader review aimed at harmoniz-
ing sidewalk café and sidewalk marketing display bylaws across the city. The proposed fee structure varies depending on where the patio is located in the city. “They are not cast in stone,” Carleton Grant, director of policy and strategic report with the city’s municipal standards and licensing division, told a stakeholder meeting this week. “We also recognize these fee increases are sensitive.” A final report will go to
CHANTAL HÉBERT TRUDEAU’S WORDS NEVER MATCHED HIS ACTIONS ON ELECTORAL REFORM
council’s licensing and standards committee in April. The proposed fees would go into effect in early 2018 and would be phased-in over three to five years for existing permit holders because they are “substantially higher than the existing fees,” said Hamish Goodwin, a senior policy and research officer with the licensing department. “In recognition of that, we are exploring how we can soften that,” he told the meeting.
New permit applicants would pay the whole shot. The base fees were set about 20 years ago and have risen only with the rate of inflation. Patrick Morrison, head of the Kensington Market BIA, representing about 250 businesses, said the proposed increases are “outrageous,” and “not only an assault on small, independent merchants, but also on the streetscape of Toronto, particularly downtown.” TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE
VICKY MOCHAMA WHEN PIGSKIN TACKLES POLITICS
metro VIEWS