Question Period Note: WATERFRONT TORONTO QUAYSIDE DEVELOPMENT

How is the Government supporting the proposed Quayside Development as part of the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization?

• Making cities more livable, sustainable, and affordable has never been more important than it is today.

• That’s why our government has made historic investments in infrastructure through our Investing in Canada plan.

• While Waterfront Toronto’s partnership with Sidewalk Labs on the Quayside project has ended, the Government of Canada remains committed to the goal of developing new innovative and sustainable communities.

• We will continue to work with Waterfront Toronto and government partners in the Province of Ontario and City of Toronto to shape future projects in the area.

• Waterfront Toronto (WT) was established under provincial legislation as a not-for-profit entity to lead and implement the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Initiative (TWRI).

• In October 2000, Canada, Ontario, and Toronto announced a contribution commitment of $500 million each to the TWRI, which has supported a series of investments that serve as the first step to transform the waterfront into sustainable new communities and to foster economic growth.

• In addition, Waterfront Toronto decided in 2016 to seek an “innovation and funding partner” to test new and innovative approaches to addressing urban challenges, using a 12-acre site along the eastern waterfront known as Quayside.

Quayside / Sidewalk Labs

• On October 16, 2017, Waterfront Toronto’s Board of Directors endorsed the selection of Alphabet subsidiary Sidewalk Labs as the preferred partner for the Quayside project.
  The Quayside project sought to create a new community that would serve as a pilot project to test a range of mixed-use ‘smart’ community concepts, innovative building techniques and connectivity to build a climate positive city.

• In June 2019 Sidewalk Labs’ draft Master Innovation and Development Plan (MIDP) for Quayside was submitted to Waterfront Toronto and released to the public. This was followed by several weeks of public and online consultation led by Waterfront Toronto.

• The draft MIDP surfaced a number of “threshold issues” that Waterfront Toronto determined would need to be addressed by Sidewalk Labs before both parties moved forward into the next phase of the proposal (e.g., project geography governance models; and data management, use and privacy).

• Formal resolution of these issues was announced by Waterfront and Sidewalk on October 31, 2019, with many of the more challenging aspects of the MIDP being modified.

• Over the course of fall 2019 and into spring 2020 Waterfront Toronto consulted the public on the final Quayside proposals and evaluated the MIDP with the assistance of external experts, including a third-party Digital Strategy Advisory Panel that was established early on to guide Waterfront on how best to incorporate data privacy, digital systems, and the safe and ethical use of new technologies in the next phase of waterfront revitalization.

• The Waterfront Toronto Board of Directors would have considered the Quayside Innovation and Development Plans at its June 25, 2020 meeting. Subsequent work would have entailed Waterfront and Sidewalk negotiating a series of Principal Implementation Agreements by January 31, 2021, while governments considered any policy, regulatory or funding decisions that fell within their jurisdiction.

• Sidewalk formally withdrew from the Quayside partnership on May 7, 2020. A statement from the Sidewalk CEO cited an inability to identify a commercially viable path forward with Waterfront Toronto.

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