Item - 2021.EX22.1

City Council considered Items EX22.1 and HL26.1 together.

The Executive Committee recommends that:  

1. City Council receive the report (March 16, 2021) from the City Manager for information.

The Executive Committee directed the City Manager and the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer to report directly to the April 7 and 8, 2021 meeting of City Council outlining the funds received from the Federal and Provincial Governments in response to the City’s budget shortfall due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This report is the eighth COVID-19 Response and Recovery Update from the City Manager since April 2020. The City Manager’s reports have detailed public health responses, emergency operations and services put in place since the beginning of the pandemic to support Toronto’s residents, business and communities and set the foundation for longer-term recovery planning.

Over the past year, City divisions, agencies and the Board of Health have provided Council with additional reports, recommendations and information on programs and services that have been modified and introduced or amended by-laws required to respond to the pandemic. Deputy City Managers, the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer and their staff have provided information, reports and presentations to Council's standing committees and the public outlining the impacts of COVID-19 and their division’s response actions and recovery strategies.

This report provides information and updates from the first quarter of 2021 on:

Public Health and Emergency Response Actions

- The status of COVID-19 cases, including information on the variants of concern.

- Continued public health actions since the start of the year, including immunization planning and deployment.

- Emergency actions taken by the City in response to COVID-19 since the start of 2021.

- Information provided in a Board of Health report that will come forward to City Council in the same Council cycle. 

Recovery Actions

- Status of recovery actions since the start of 2021 on a range of matters presented under broad themes, and with reference to recommendations from the COVID-19: Impact and Opportunities report, the Economic and Culture Recovery Advisory Group, and the City Manager's recovery reports, building on information included in previous reports.

- Highlights and links to related Council reports issued during the first quarter of 2021 that provide more detailed updates on specific recovery actions, as well as noting any upcoming reports on specific recovery actions.

- The City's finances related to COVID-19 recovery since the 2021 Budget was adopted by Council on February 18, 2020.

Renewed Intergovernmental Strategy

- Progress on a renewed strategy that will ensure a coordinated, unified approach to engage and advocate to all levels of government to achieve the City's strategic objectives.

- The intergovernmental strategy's foundational pillars update the following:  

- Roles and responsibilities;

- Priority issues for Toronto and aligning shared outcomes with other governments;

- Intergovernmental networks, tables and agreements;

- Intergovernmental partnerships with community/stakeholders ("whole of community"); and

- Transparency and accountability. 

Recovery Communications Strategy

- Information about a communications strategy that includes the development of a Recovery Portal for ongoing updates and information to City Council and the public on recovery actions.

Building Back Better

Aside from these important updates, information is also provided in this report on how the City's senior leadership are looking ahead to how to coordinate all recovery actions in order to build a better City, rather than focus on a return to the normal that we knew before the pandemic.  This imperative was illustrated across the issues identified during the Budget Committee and Council discussions on the 2021 budget, and the discussions held by the City's senior leadership team and Division heads on how to implement priorities for the next two years efficiently and effectively.

The focus of the City Manager and his senior leadership team includes how best to coordinate across functions to build capacity in the city's neighbourhoods and communities, strengthen partnerships with local groups and organizations and more effectively respond to evolving issues and advance equity.  In future reports, the City Manager will provide additional updates and information on organizational and administrative strategies to support the City as we Build Back Better.