Tory: Extending subway into Richmond Hill would be 'irresponsible'

cp24.com
March 3, 2016
By Codi Wilson

Mayor John Tory says he has made it clear to the chair of York Region that it would be “irresponsible” to extend the Yonge subway north in to Richmond Hill before the city relieves some congestion for commuters on the line.

Tory made the comments to CP24 Wednesday night after The Toronto Star reported that 16 York Region mayors, councillors and senior staff took their pitch for the $4-billion subway proposal to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week.

Wayne Emmerson, the chair of York Region, told The Star that it is the first time the region has gone directly to Ottawa to make its case for the project.

But Tory says when he spoke to Emmerson several days ago, he made his opinion about the project known.

“I had the chairman of York Region, Mr. Emmerson, in to see me a week or 10 days ago and he was disturbed that our maps about transit projects did not include the Yonge Street north extension up in to Richmond Hill,” Tory said.

“I said to him in all honesty...that we can’t possible contemplate expanding the Yonge Street subway north into Richmond Hill until we get some relief for the Yonge Street subway.”

Tory said overcrowding on the Yonge line is already a big problem and that adding more stops would only further aggravate the situation.

“I mean how irresponsible would it be to have the trains when they get to Finch be full so no one can get on. Right now they get on at Finch and they are full by York Mills or Eglinton and we just can’t do it and I was honest in saying that to him,” Tory said.

“We are working on getting SmartTrack built, getting a Yonge Street relief line done, but we cannot contemplate supporting, for our sake, an extension of the subway up in to York Region and Richmond Hill until we get some Yonge Street relief."

According to The Star, the extension in to Richmond Hill would take 10 years to build and would include six stops north of Finch Station.

While Emmerson did not provide specifics to The Star about when the subway extension could happen, the deputy mayor of Richmond Hill, Vito Spatafora, said work could begin as early as 2019.

Speaking to reporters at a news conference about plans for the Highway 427 extension Thursday morning, Ontario Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca said the Yonge subway extension project would likely require a partnership involving the federal government, the province, York Region and the City of Toronto.

"The province still lists the Yonge Street subway extension on our next wave of infrastructure projects under Metrolinx’s planning and I know that Metrolinx has worked closely with York Region Transit on helping to make sure that, in a very deliberate and fundamental way, that we advance that project so that at some point in the future when funding will be in place that it is ready to go," Del Duca said.

Vaughan Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua, who also attended the Highway 427 press conference Thursday, said the City of Vaughan is "on record" about its support for the extension of the Yonge subway line in to York Region.

"We are fully cognizant of the importance of having a Yonge extension. It is very much in keeping with the issues related to traffic congestion and enhancing economic opportunity here in the city of Vaughan but it is not just for the city of Vaughan, of course, it is for York Region as well as the Greater Toronto Area," he said.

"Major infrastructure programs that cost billions of dollars require proper planning and we need to get in right. I’m glad that the province is participating and leading the process to make sure that one day that here in York Region we do have a Yonge extension. I think it makes perfect sense for transit here in the GTA."