Wednesday, May 02, 2018
Community Benefits Agreements received a big boost last week as Toronto City Council approved a significant agreement with new enforceable community benefits from the expanded casino at Woodbine in Toronto’s Rexdale neighbourhood.
Community Benefits Agreements are a formal mechanism to incorporate public benefit into infrastructure development, with a particular focus on community economic development and apprenticeship opportunities for historically disadvantaged and equity-seeking groups.
The deal, which was the result of more than 10 years of advocacy, is an unprecedented win for these types of agreements in Canada.
According to the Toronto Community Benefits Network, the Rexdale community will benefit from:
- $5 million for the development of a child care centre to support workers and the local community;
- community and labour involvement in the oversight and monitoring of the projects;
- hard targets requiring that 40% of new hires come from the local community and equity-seeking groups from across the city, that 50% of new jobs created will be full-time, and that 10% of the apprentices and tradespeople working on construction come from local and diverse communities; and
- requirements for a minimum of 10% of annual operational procurement will be through local suppliers or diverse suppliers, to support local businesses.
AMAPCEO has been encouraging the provincial government to commit to the expansion of Community Benefits Agreements, and believes there’s an exciting opportunity to do so through the reconstruction of Macdonald Block. This six-year, $300 million project (also known as the Queen’s Park Reconstruction Project) to rebuild the seat of government could showcase how community benefits agreements can be incorporated into government infrastructure projects.