The City of Toronto is handing over what amounts to a $7.5-million blank cheque for social initiatives this year and next as part of its FIFA World Cup budget.
The Toronto Sun has learned that other than a youth labour development program, the city hasn’t figured out how to spend $5 million set aside for “legacy funding” and $2.5 million for “Indigenous funding” in its 2025 World Cup budget.
That doesn’t mean it won’t get spent.
Work is being done with “community and industry partners,” and Indigenous groups are being consulted “to identify initiatives that will qualify for funding as part of these budgets,” says a city document, released to the Sun via a freedom-of-information request.
“Any unused funds from 2025 would be brought forward to 2026 to support initiatives as required,” it adds. The city expects to confirm some spending this year.
Toronto will host six World Cup games, with the first set for June 12, 2026.
In a budget document, the city specifies that legacy spending is meant “to support the legacy pillars of sport and active living, human rights, economic development, sustainability, and arts and culture.”
In a statement, the city cited a recommendation by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a “key priority” for Toronto as a World Cup host. That recommendation – “Call to Action” No. 91 – urges officials to “ensure that Indigenous peoples’ territorial protocols are respected, and local Indigenous communities are engaged in all aspects of planning and participating” when hosting sporting events such as the Olympics.
The statement said “decisions” on the spending will be made by Toronto’s World Cup secretariat “in consultation with” its partners – what the city calls “program advisory bodies” – and a special subcommittee led by Mayor Olivia Chow.
As to how City Hall came up with the $7.5-million total, the statement said it was “developed with input from subject matter experts” and those budgets “continue to be refined.”
The community workforce development program is meant to “connect opportunities to youth” from “equity-deserving communities,” according to the budget document. That document says the program “will focus on sectors such as hospitality, tourism and event management,” but the city would not clarify if this program would employ youth directly in jobs created for the World Cup.
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The city also would not clarify the cost of that program, saying information “including budget allocations” was in the publicly available budget document. That document does not attribute a cost to the program, but does list a $100,000 expenditure in the 2025 budget for City Hall’s social development division.
The city has budgeted $1.25 million as Indigenous funding for each of 2025 and 2026. For legacy funding, $2.1 million is earmarked for 2025 and $2.9 million for next year. However, in a report prepared in October for city council’s World Cup subcommittee, all $7.5 million was labelled as legacy funding.
Toronto’s budget for the World Cup has ballooned to $380 million, most of it operating costs. More than $200 million of the total is to be spent next year. When council committed to Toronto’s World Cup bid in April 2022, the city had pegged the cost at $290 million.
The city has said it expects hosting the games will result in a $393-million jolt to Toronto’s economy. “The tournament will leave a lasting legacy, providing economic opportunities, cultural enrichment and a sense of pride in our community,” Chow was quoted as saying in a press release last year.
Government soccer spending goes beyond the World Cup budget. City Hall cited the need to rehabilitate portions of the Gardiner Expressway ahead of the games before the province announced millions of dollars would be spent to speed up the project.
In a bid to recoup costs, council voted in November to hike hotel taxes from 6% to 8.5% from June 1 until July 31, 2026. That levy, the municipal accommodation tax, which did not exist in Toronto until 2018, was just 4% as recently as 2023.