The hearing before the Ontario Municipal Board over a new big box development on the eastern waterfront in Toronto has started with one side accusing the other of being snobs.

Smart Centres wants to build a new shopping centre on the land, which could include a Wal-Mart. But city hall has rejected the plan and a local residents group is opposed to the development.

The dispute has now reached the OMB, where a final decision will be made.

City lawyer Brendan O'Callaghan started the hearing Thursday by saying it isn't about whether Wal-Mart can open a store on Eastern Avenue. He said the case is about keeping quality jobs in Toronto, so people don't have to drive to the 905 region to get to work.

"What should go on these lands for the long term? [The] city's vision, of course, is that it be employment, film, new media."

Dennis Wood, the lawyer for Smart Centres, said the development would bring almost 2,000 jobs to the neighbourhood. Those jobs would all be in retail, many of them at stores like Wal-Mart and many paying about $10 an hour.

Wood told the hearing "it's pure snobbery" that the city government and the local community would "denigrate" people who work in retail.

Those opposed to the project, including local residents and city hall, are turning up their noses at low-skill jobs, Wood said.

"Their counsel said 'a retail job is not a real job.' I was astonished he would say that, given the amount of retail employment we have in this city — how important it is to a lot of people who work very hard," said Wood.

Eric Gillespie, the lawyer for the local community group fighting Smart Centres, said retail jobs don't count as true employment.

"Both the City of Toronto and the Ontario government no longer consider retail as true employment," said Gillespie.

"What we're talking about is people wanting to improve themselves, and Mr. Wood is critical of that saying, 'No, you shouldn't try for better. You shouldn't try to move up.'"

The debate over what is a "good job" is at the heart of the dispute.

City hall said the land must be reserved for film, software and other so-called new media jobs that pay well.

But Wood said the city is fooling itself if it thinks it can attract new media jobs to the site. Smart Centres said the city and the community are foolish to turn down the retail employment it is promising.