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Toronto's global profile has surged in the past few years as the world takes notice of the diversity of population, solidity of its banks and ubiquity of its construction cranes. But a new report on global cities notes that the groundwork for Toronto's present glory was laid decades ago, while its future is hobbled by its "serious infrastructure deficit" and lack of policy coordination with its regional neighbours and higher levels of government.
The report is a sobering reminder that Toronto is largely living off the legacy of its past good governance and planning, while its current management could be undermining its hard-won global appreciation.
According to The 10 Traits of Globally Fluent Metropolitan Areas , Toronto owes its current 13th place ranking on the Globalization and World Cities Index to a combination of historical factors that positioned it long ago to thrive in the global era. But the study warns that current policy is holding the city back.
"Toronto was propelled into the international arena in the post-war era owing to a convergence of unintended but advantageous geographical and geopolitical factors," note authors Brad McDearman, Greg Clark and Joseph Parilla. Their report is the latest by the Global Cities Initiative, a joint project of the Washington-based Brookings Institution and U.S. bank JP Morgan Chase.
Starting in the 1950s, Toronto benefitted from its proximity to major U.S. markets. The "commercial legacy of British imperialism" made it an attractive place to do business. And the arrival and smooth integration of "entrepreneurial and investor immigrant communities" enabled its rise.
But the report also underscores the extent to which Montreal's loss was Toronto's gain. The relocation of financial and corporate assets from Montreal to Toronto following the rise of secessionist politics in Quebec "was opportune, given the subsequent focus on finance in the global economy."
Indeed, as the report and an accompanying profile of Toronto note, Toronto has emerged as only one of 10 top-level "broad and deep" financial services providers. It is the third most connected North American city, after New York and Chicago, but ahead of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington.
On the downside, the report notes that Toronto suffers from a "relative lack of foreign capital investment, slow access from the airport to the central business district and high public transportation costs." The study adds that "fragmented city-regional governance relationships…threaten a slow resolution to a serious infrastructure deficit," while the "weak alignment of priorities between the city, provincial and federal governments has meant Toronto's trade and entrepreneurial accomplishments have limited recognition, and are therefore weakly transmitted to a global audience."
The Globalization and World Cities Index classifies Toronto as one of a handful of global "Alpha" cities. Montreal and Vancouver are classified as "Beta +" cities, ranking in at 51st and 63rd places, respectively.
Konrad Yakabuski