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Michael Shapcott

TD urges social investment for TO’s "deep pools of poverty"

Toronto and the surrouding Greater Toronto Area (GTA) are “a powerful economic locomotive which produces nearly one-fifth of the entire nation’s GDP”, along with many other economic advantages, according to a new report from TD Economics called “Canada’s Primary Economic Locomotive in Need of Repairs“.

But the economists working for one of Canada’s largest banks warn that despite the economic good times, “deep pools of poverty persist – a problem that is exacerbated by an inadequate supply of social housing”.

The TD prescription is to adjust the tax mix (the variety of taxes that individuals and businesses pay in Toronto) in order to make social investments in education, housing, skills training for newcomers; plus investments in eroding physical infrastructure (roads, sewers, transit, etc.).

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Michael Shapcott

Michael Shapcott

Michael Shapcott is Director, Affordable Housing and Social Innovation at Wellesley Institute. Michael has worked extensively in Toronto, in many parts of Canada, nationally and internationally on social innovation, the non-profit sector, civic engagement, housing and housing rights, poverty, social exclusion, urban health and health equity. He is recognized as one of Canada’s leading community-based housing and homelessness experts. He is currently on secondment to the Princes' Charities Canada.

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We wish to acknowledge this land on which the Wellesley Institute operates. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.

Revised by the Ceremonial Committee at the University of Toronto Office of Indigenous Initiatives in April 2021.