Item - 2020.EC12.5

The Economic and Community Development Committee:

1.  Directed the General Manager, Economic Development and Culture, to report in the third quarter of 2021 with an update on the progress of the inter-divisional working group in support of the food and beverage sector.

2.  Requested the General Manager, Economic Development and Culture, to re-engage the Food and Consumer Products of Canada on the concept of a food and beverage manufacturing campus in Toronto that works with post-secondary institutions and report in the second quarter of 2021.

This report provides an update on the City's support for Toronto's food and beverage sector. Over 60,000 people are employed in the food and beverage manufacturing sector in the Greater Toronto Area, and there are more than 2,000 food and beverage manufacturing companies in the Toronto CMA and over 1,000 in Toronto alone (Source: Statistics Canada).

In consultation with industry partners, City staff commissioned an outside consultant, through a competitive Request for Quotations (RFQ) process, to develop a road map to support the growth of the sector over the next 10 years (see Attachment 1). Three key action items in this road map are:

1.  the creation of an inter-divisional working group to strengthen the economic vitality of the sector;

2.  the formation of an industry advisory group made up of food and beverage manufacturing stakeholders; and

3.  the development of a sub-committee of the Golden Horseshoe Food and Farming Alliance that will deal wholly with food and beverage manufacturing issues faced in the Golden Horseshoe.

Over the next number of years, staff from Economic Development and Culture will be working with industry stakeholders to move these action items forward. The General Manager, Economic Development and Culture, will assist with convening an inter-divisional working group to develop a coordinated approach to addressing issues facing the sector, such as odour complaints from nearby constituents, zoning applications for urban vertical farms, noise mitigation issues, and hydro- and water-related shutdowns due to maintenance repairs, among others. These are examples of priority issues shared with staff at stakeholder consultation meetings in 2019 that could be addressed through the collaborative efforts of City divisions.