Law Times

Page 6 FeBRUaRY 6, 2017 • LaW TIMeS www.lawtimesnews.com COMMENT u EDITORIAL OBITER By Gabrielle Giroday Human lawyers, rejoice Law Times has features this week exploring legal innovation. It couldn't be more timely. While lawyers may be concerned their expertise (and job pros- pects) will dim with the rise of innovations like artificial intelligence, there is no reason to fret quite yet. Protectionism — which can mani- fest in closed borders, closed economies or closed minds — has been known to stymie growth over time, not stoke it. Which is why there may be hope yet, notes Andrew Arruda, CEO and co-founder of ROSS Intelligence. "AI systems will do as much as they can. The human lawyer doesn't get removed. In law, because our cur- rent system isn't addressing the full market there is actually a lot of money out there right now," he says. Arruda's right. I have heard practising lawyers lament that there seems to be a surfeit of graduates who cannot find stable careers with- in firms, and on the other hand, there are Ontarians decrying they cannot find the lawyers they need to take their cases for the amount they're willing to pay. Technology is a tool that cannot bridge this gap alone, but lawyers and firms that harness rapidly evolving tools will be better prepared for the coming swell. The problems presented by technology do not appear to be abat- ing. Toll ban a desperate measure BY IAN HARVEY O ntario Premier Kathleen Wyn- ne's decision to deny the city of Toronto permission to estab- lish tolls on two expressways would seem to be a win for the 905ers. In reality, it's not just a desperate popu- list ploy. It's also a carefully veiled power play, nipping the rise of the city state in the bud and one that Toronto Mayor John Tory rightly described as "paternalistic." This is much more than just a rescue package for those 905 voters. (Though, it is those drivers from the surrounding cit- ies and regions who would pay the lion's share of the tolls to use the Don Valley Parkway and Fred G. Gardiner Express- way on their daily commutes.) In December, city council over- whelmingly voted to investigate how a toll system could be set up, what it might cost, what it might generate in revenue and what the impact on surrounding streets would be as traffic inevitably sought to avoid payment and seek alter- native routes. Toronto is unique in this regard. It built both the DVP and the Freddy G. back in the 1960s and 1950s, and pays to maintain and operate them from the property tax base. And therein lies the issue. All other major Ontario highways are operated as provincial highways, paid for from the budget of the prov- ince's Ministry of Transpor- tation. The cost for highways such as the 401, 400, 403 and 409 are paid for by all Ontar- ians, regardless of whether they live in Timmins or To- ronto. This isn't the case with the DVP and the Freddy G., the latter of which is in need of $3.6 billion in repairs. The city of Toronto also can ill af- ford to pay for the billions of dollars needed to upgrade and extend rapid transit it desperately needs to re- duce the gridlock on its roads and high- ways. However, Toronto is a child of the province, governed by the Municipal Act and the City of Toronto Act, which pre- scribes what the city can and can't tax. The Municipal Act, 2001, conveys the power to a municipality to tax under s. 40 (1), but it then whisks it away in s. 40 (2), where it states "a municipality does not have the power to designate, operate and maintain a highway as a toll highway un- til a regulation is made under this section that applies to the proposed toll highway." Section 40 (3) then sets out how a reg- ulation may be made, including getting permission, proving the need and other requirements and finally allows for the minister receiving the applica- tion for a toll. It clearly states that the minister "may prohibit the municipality from making the designation even though the designation is otherwise authorized under the regula- tion." The proposed tolls were to fund transit and Freddy G. repairs, with dedicated rev- enues of up to $300 million a year. While there's some skep- ticism around proclaiming a dedicated tax because experience shows the money soon shifts to general rev- enues, most critics were willing to give Tory a chance to investigate and propose a more detailed mechanism. Most that is, except Premier Wynne, who remained silent until her bombshell announcement that the tolls are a no go and the province will double the gas tax it shares with municipalities to $642 mil- lion by 2020-21. Toronto will then see another $170 million on top of the $170 million it gets now, the biggest share of all because of its larger population. By comparison, Ottawa gets $70 million now and will see $140 million when fully implemented. This money is in addition to the car- bon tax on gas that kicked in Jan. 1, which will pay the provincial share of rapid transit development and will go di- rectly to municipalities to pay their share toward roads and transit, though it's too little too late for Toronto. Wynne is banking on some goodwill, but the extra funding destined for Toronto is too little too late. The Ontario Liberal caucus and its as- sorted civil service advisors also see the tolls as Toronto pushing taxation beyond its borders, imposing a tax on 905 com- muters and an incursion into the prov- ince's taxation bailiwick. To the prov- ince, it's a dangerous power and money grab and it had to be nixed. Not to men- tion the province's plan to roll out more tolls for High Occupancy Lanes. Tory is right. Premier Wynne threw Toronto under the bus in a desperate hunt to shore up whatever support she has left in Toronto itself and to under- mine Ontario Opposition leader Patrick Brown's and provincial NDP leader An- drea Horwath's support in the 905. But it's hardly surprising given this regime's track record. LT uIan Harvey has been a journalist for more than 40 years writing about a di- verse range of issues including legal and political affairs. His email address is ianharvey@rogers.com. "What lawyers are starting to do is to think about the customer not just as needing a legal service but as needing a solution or a wraparound service gen- erally," says Chris Bentley, who heads up the Law Practice Program at Ryerson and the incubator Legal Innovation Zone. LT ©2017 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. 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