MPPs send symbolic message with vote against road tolls
Opposition MPPs send symbolic message to premier: don’t approve Tory’s plan for DVP and Gardiner tolls
Thestar.com
By ROB FERGUSON
Dec. 9, 2016
Opposition MPPs have sent a symbolic message to Premier Kathleen Wynne: don’t approve Toronto Mayor John Tory’s plan to slap tolls on the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway.
New Democrats supported a Progressive Conservative motion aimed at getting Wynne to block new tolls on existing lanes of any Ontario highway, including the DVP and Gardiner.
About two dozen Liberals were in the legislature but abstained from voting, with Arthur Potts (Beaches-East York) saying “the whole thing is about nothing” because city council hasn’t submitted a request to the province yet.
Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown accused Liberal MPPs of being afraid to put their votes on the record because the tolls are controversial.
“There’s a reason,” he told the Star. “A lot of the MPPs from Etobicoke, Scarborough, North York, the 905, they weren’t there, because they know their constituents are livid about it.”
The vote of 38-0 is not binding on the government but opposition parties hope it fuels the fight against any Toronto highway user fees, which Brown warned could set the stage for more tolls elsewhere around the province.
“This is not the Christmas present that commuters in Toronto need,” he said during question period earlier Thursday.
Wynne signalled she would approve a toll request from city council as a way to help Toronto raise money for improved transportation infrastructure that will help pave the way for an improved economy.
She criticized Brown and the NDP for “short-term thinking.”
Debate in the legislature was heated at times, with opposition MPPs saying GTA residents are already struggling with high electricity prices and will be facing higher gasoline and natural gas bills in the New Year as part of the government’s plan to curb carbon emissions in the fight against climate change.
“People are struggling to make ends meet,” said New Democrat MPP Jennifer French (Oshawa), noting 30 per cent of Durham residents work in Toronto.
Tory’s suggested toll of $2 each way means a motorist heading downtown daily would pay $1,000 a year “for the privilege of getting to work on roads they’ve already paid for,” said Conservative MPP Michael Harris (Kitchener-Conestoga).
Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca said the Conservatives have changed their tune on highway user fees after the government of former premier Mike Harris leased Highway 407 to a private company.
“Today, it’s tolled. It was tolled then,” he added, taking a second shot at the Harris government’s decision to halt construction on an Eglinton Ave. subway line two decades ago.
“They didn’t just kill it, they killed it and filled it.”
The tunnels were filled with sand and cement. The Liberal government has since decided to build the Crosstown light rail line along and under Eglinton that is slated for completion in 2021.
