In Part 3 of its Downtown Decay series, CTV News Toronto examines the path forward for the city’s slumping core—and what can be done to reverse the troubling trend.
It is lunch hour in Toronto’s core, and the Front Street patio tables are set. It’s midweek, it’s May, and the skies are clear—but the office crowd is scarce, and the chairs sit empty.
It’s a tell-tale sign that fewer people are downtown these days, with plenty of reasons to avoid the area.
“Transportation has been a hot mess,” said Jay Daye, who lives downtown. “It has been a struggle to get around.”
“I have never seen this much construction at a single time,” said Akash Thomas, who moved here from India three years ago.
Improving the commute into the core, and the ease with which people can move around within it, is key to revitalizing a slumping city centre, said Matti Siemiatycki, director of the Infrastructure Institute at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities.
A ‘for sale’ sign in the window of a commercial building in downtown Toronto. (CTV News Toronto)
“It’s just like a litany of transportation challenges in that area, to the point where politicians are in some cases saying ‘Don’t come into downtown,’ which is the opposite of what we need right now,” he said.
“We’re talking about a downtown core that is struggling, and needs huge numbers of people to come in and out, and be able to do that easily.”
“If you’re not able to attract people to work, attract people for amenities,” said William Strange, who teaches urban economics at the University of Toronto. “The stronger are the amenities, the happier people are going to be to go into their office anyway.”
“What I see is a huge opportunity for downtown Toronto to remake itself,” Karen Chapple, director of the University of Toronto’s School of Cities, told CTV News Toronto.
The key, she said, would be to reinvent the area as a mixed-use community, a model other urban centres have demonstrated to be successful.
“What I just hope, though, as we’re attracting sectors back, is that they are not nine-to-five sectors, because that’s what killed some of these downtowns.”
People passing by an empty patio on a sunny day in downtown Toronto. (CTV News Toronto)
The revitalization of the core will be a critical challenge for the city’s next mayor, Siemiatycki said, who warned service cuts could worsen an already-spiralling problem.
But investment won’t be possible without a rethink of the city’s fiscal framework, according to Matt Elliott, publisher of City Hall Watcher.
“If you look at the city’s budget hole and you say, ‘We’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing,’ and you’re not going to have a real plan to fill that budget hole, that gets into some really dicey territory,” Elliott said. “Because that’s when you start looking at really deep cuts.”
It’s not ideology, he said—it’s math.
“I don’t think we’ve realized that we’ve fallen down this ladder in terms of our prosperity,” Giles Gherson, incoming Toronto Region Board of Trade president, told CTV News Toronto.
Gherson warned that without a new financial deal for the city, which heavily supports services that should be the responsibility of Ottawa and the province, Toronto’s downtown would fall further behind.
“We’re poor,” he said. “We’re a poorer place than we used to be.”
The core, he argued, is in need of a correction, if the city is to salvage its productivity, maintain job growth, and remain competitive globally.
“We haven’t been paying attention,” he said. “We’ve been sleeping, and it’s falling off. So that’s what we need to fix—and that’s a big deal.”
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was down more than 200 points in late-morning trading, weighed down by losses in the technology, base metal and energy sectors, while U.S. stock markets also fell.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 239.24 points at 22,749.04.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 312.36 points at 40,443.39. The S&P 500 index was down 80.94 points at 5,422.47, while the Nasdaq composite was down 380.17 points at 16,747.49.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.80 cents US compared with 74.00 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down US$1.07 at US$68.08 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.26 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$2.10 at US$2,541.00 an ounce and the December copper contract was down four cents at US$4.10 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 150 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in technology, financial and energy stocks, while U.S. stock markets also pushed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 171.41 points at 23,298.39.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 278.37 points at 41,369.79. The S&P 500 index was up 38.17 points at 5,630.35, while the Nasdaq composite was up 177.15 points at 17,733.18.
The Canadian dollar traded for 74.19 cents US compared with 74.23 cents US on Wednesday.
The October crude oil contract was up US$1.75 at US$76.27 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.10 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$18.70 at US$2,556.50 an ounce and the December copper contract was down less than a penny at US$4.22 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2024.
The crypto market has recently experienced a significant downturn, mirroring broader risk asset sell-offs. Over the past week, Bitcoin’s price dropped by 24%, reaching $53,000, while Ethereum plummeted nearly a third to $2,340. Major altcoins also suffered, with Cardano down 27.7%, Solana 36.2%, Dogecoin 34.6%, XRP 23.1%, Shiba Inu 30.1%, and BNB 25.7%.
The severe downturn in the crypto market appears to be part of a broader flight to safety, triggered by disappointing economic data. A worse-than-expected unemployment report on Friday marked the beginning of a technical recession, as defined by the Sahm Rule. This rule identifies a recession when the three-month average unemployment rate rises by at least half a percentage point from its lowest point in the past year.
Friday’s figures met this threshold, signaling an abrupt economic downshift. Consequently, investors sought safer assets, leading to declines in major stock indices: the S&P 500 dropped 2%, the Nasdaq 2.5%, and the Dow 1.5%. This trend continued into Monday with further sell-offs overseas.
The crypto market’s rapid decline raises questions about its role as either a speculative asset or a hedge against inflation and recession. Despite hopes that crypto could act as a risk hedge, the recent crash suggests it remains a speculative investment.
Since the downturn, the crypto market has seen its largest three-day sell-off in nearly a year, losing over $500 billion in market value. According to CoinGlass data, this bloodbath wiped out more than $1 billion in leveraged positions within the last 24 hours, including $365 million in Bitcoin and $348 million in Ether.
Khushboo Khullar of Lightning Ventures, speaking to Bloomberg, argued that the crypto sell-off is part of a broader liquidity panic as traders rush to cover margin calls. Khullar views this as a temporary sell-off, presenting a potential buying opportunity.
Josh Gilbert, an eToro market analyst, supports Khullar’s perspective, suggesting that the expected Federal Reserve rate cuts could benefit crypto assets. “Crypto assets have sold off, but many investors will see an opportunity. We see Federal Reserve rate cuts, which are now likely to come sharper than expected, as hugely positive for crypto assets,” Gilbert told Coindesk.
Despite the recent volatility, crypto continues to make strides toward mainstream acceptance. Notably, Morgan Stanley will allow its advisors to offer Bitcoin ETFs starting Wednesday. This follows more than half a year after the introduction of the first Bitcoin ETF. The investment bank will enable over 15,000 of its financial advisors to sell BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC. This move is seen as a significant step toward the “mainstreamization” of crypto, given the lengthy regulatory and company processes in major investment banks.
The recent crypto market downturn highlights its volatility and the broader economic concerns affecting all risk assets. While some analysts see the current situation as a temporary sell-off and a buying opportunity, others caution against the speculative nature of crypto. As the market evolves, its role as a mainstream alternative asset continues to grow, marked by increasing institutional acceptance and new investment opportunities.
