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MTO upping oversight of Metrolinx

torontosun.com
April 4, 2016
By Shawn Jeffords

Ontario’s transportation minister is cracking down on Metrolinx, ordering a sweeping review of the troubled transit agency.

The Toronto Sun has learned Steven Del Duca informed Metrolinx chairman Rob Prichard of the probe March 9, writing that he wants to improve “oversight and accountability” of the agency.

Del Duca said the transit agency’s staff are to work with the ministry of transportation’s (MTO) chief administrative officer on the review and it is to be completed no later than Sept. 30, with an interim report on his desk by June 30.

“This analysis will not only help ensure the effective assessment of operations, but will also provide input into subsequent agency budget planning work,” Del Duca said in a letter obtained by the Sun.

The minister wants the sweeping review to look at five different aspects of Metrolinx operations:

It has been a rough few months at Metrolinx as the agency has been hit with one bad headline after the other. In late February, Metrolinx slashed the price of the Union Pearson Express air-rail link from $27.50 to $12 in a bid to bolster anemic ridership. A few weeks later, UP Express president Kathy Haley resigned.

In early March, the Sun revealed that Metrolinx had doled out $1.3 million over five years in taxpayers’ cash to fund studies and conferences. Opposition critics slammed the spending as “another boondoggle.”

The Sun also revealed Metrolinx paid $40,000 to a fashion designer to create uniforms for UP Express workers. The agency paid $22,000 to be part of a show at Toronto Fashion Week but had to cough up an additional $8,400 to the designer when they backed out.

In 2013, the agency came under fire for a promotional partnership program after it was revealed staffers spent taxpayers’ money to sponsor a Buffalo Bills game and the Toronto International Film Festival. Agency staff were given tickets for free or at a cut rate.

In the letter, Del Duca stressed that the Ontario government is making a significant investment in transit using “scarce provincial resources.”

“As a Crown agency, the public expects Metrolinx to use public funds and assets responsibly and appropriately with due regard to economy and efficiency,” Del Duca said in the letter.

Patrick Searle, Del Duca’s press secretary, said the minister had nothing to add to the letter.

Metrolinx spokesman Anne Marie Aikins said the agency will continue to work “collaboratively and constructively” with the MTO to ensure value for money.

“We agree that our focus should always be on planning, building and operating transit,” she said in an e-mail to the Sun. “We are committed to meeting all expectations of the province as we continue to deliver on our mandate.”