Tories urge premier to reject toll proposal

Queen’s Park has no plan to take ‘unilateral action’ against the city, Wynne says

Thestar.com
Dec. 6, 2016
By Robert Benzie

Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown wants Premier Kathleen Wynne to put up a roadblock on Mayor John Tory’s plan to toll the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner Expressway.

But Wynne said Queen’s Park has no plan to “take unilateral action against the city of Toronto” by rejecting the mayor’s road-pricing proposal before it has even been formally submitted for provincial approval.

“We’re not going to do that,” the premier said Tuesday, accusing Brown of having “no plan for building transit or for building transportation infrastructure in this province and no plan for where the funding would come from.”

The Conservative leader said Ontarians are already paying enough without additional levies.

“Families can’t afford this new toll tax,” Brown told reporters.

“This isn’t about John Tory. This is about Kathleen Wynne’s underfunding of municipalities,” he said.

“The reality is these tolls in Toronto are not going to be popular with 416 commuters or 905 drivers. It’s the wrong thing for the GTA.”

Brown, who will introduce a motion in the Legislature on Thursday to derail Tory’s scheme, said a Conservative government would make up for the lost toll revenue by managing infrastructure dollars better.

The mayor has said tolls on the two city-owned highways could bring in between $200 million and $300 million annually to fund transportation infrastructure such as his SmartTrack express rail transit plan.

Tory, who led the Conservatives between 2004 and 2009, was not amused by his successor’s announcement.

“If Patrick Brown is trying to score cheap political points in the 905, maybe he should have championed a plan to fix people’s commutes into Toronto,” Amanda Galbraith, Tory’s director of communications, said in an email.

“Now, he needs to explain to Toronto residents why he’s happy to let them live in a city that can’t afford to fight traffic or build transit,” said Galbraith.

“With a toll of around $2, drivers can contribute to better roads and transit, ease congestion and speed up their own travel times. This is what the public wants done. This is the way we get there. It’s a smart, prudent, fiscally conservative plan - something the Ontario PCs used to get behind,” she said.

Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca was also scornful of Brown’s pitch.

“Today’s stunt by Patrick Brown makes it painfully clear that the Conservatives ‎have no plan to invest in transit and transportation infrastructure, and are unwilling to work as partners with municipalities,” said Del Duca.

“Instead of holding a press conference to explain his plan to relieve congestion and invest in transit, Brown decided it was more important to criticize the approach of an elected mayor, a mayor who has a plan to fight congestion in the city of Toronto by investing in transportation.”

Councillor Ana Bailao (Ward 18, Davenport) said “Mr. Brown needs to tell the residents of Toronto what his plan is.”

“Why does he want Toronto to choke on traffic? If he doesn’t, how is he going to pay for transit and fix our traffic? Double-digit tax increases? Selling hydro? Or will he restore the 50-per-cent operating funding for the TTC that the last PC government cut? Will he propose to upload the social housing that was previously downloaded onto all Ontario municipalities?” said Bailao.

“What we have in front of us is a plan to build transit and fix the traffic that is strangling our city,” she said, adding that council only had three choices.

“We could raise property taxes across the city between 5 and 10 per cent, devastating many seniors and other homeowners. We could sell city assets like Toronto Hydro, something the city can only do once and would not provide a sustainable source of funding.

“Instead, we are looking at other sources of revenue, including road tolls which is fair, transparent, impacts the least amount of Toronto residents and brings in steady money to build transit projects over the long-term.”