Corp Comm Connects

Liberals forgetting what first ‘T ‘in TTC stands forĀ 

Torontosun.com
June 2, 2016
By Christina Blizzard

Cynics among us asked when the byelection was happening.

When Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca announced Thursday that his government would spend $55 million on a study for a subway expansion to Richmond Hill, the obvious question was why.

This government is notorious for jumping on major capital spending bandwagons when there’s a byelection to be helped with taxpayers’ cash. Who will ever forget their massive subway flip-flop when they magically saw the light - and the need for subways in Scarborough - once they had to get Mitzie Hunter elected as the “subway champion” in Scarborough-Guildwood in 2013?

This isn’t an announcement that they intend to build the subway. It’s more of a “save the date” announcement. The provincial government will study expanding the Yonge subway from Finch Ave. to Hwy. 7.

Del Duca lauded the idea as a sequel to the Spadina extension to Vaughan.

That takes a lot of chutzpah, considering that project is two years late and $400 million over budget. I guarantee it will be a white elephant that no one will use. It was the vanity project of former finance minister Greg Sorbara from the get-go.

And what will an expanded Yonge line do to the Downtown Relief Line announced Wednesday? It will pour thousands more riders into an already overstressed system.

Del Duca said it’s not an either/or situation.

“The gridlock we all grapple with in this region is not something that respects postal codes or area codes or municipal boundaries,” he said. “It’s a regional challenge and requires regional solutions and we have to continue to move forward with more than one project at a time.”

Del Duca was vague as to what funding commitments he had from other levels of government for the project.

“What we’re doing is providing planning funding so that we can advance these projects, so that when the time comes and when it’s appropriate, we engage in those conversations to determine those details,” he said.

So let me get this straight. There was only enough money for a one-stop subway expansion to Scarborough. It won’t connect the Sheppard line to Scarborough Town Centre, which would make sense.

But apparently there’s lots of cash for the TTC to expand again into York Region.

A spokesman for the TTC said Mayor John Tory and TTC staff made it clear Wednesday that the Yonge subway extension can only happen after other lines are in place.

“A Yonge North extension is welcome, but not until the relief line and SmartTrack are in service, otherwise an already-crowded Bloor-Yonge interchange becomes unmanageable,” TTC spokesman Brad Ross said.

Let’s remember the first ‘T ‘in TTC stands for - ahem - Toronto. Not York Region. Yet the provincial government is spending money on a study for a subway line to York Region with no firm pledge of cash from any other level of government.

I am sure Scarborough taxpayers will be delighted to subsidize a York Region subway - while they’re getting shafted.

PC Leader Patrick Brown said the Liberals are making transit announcements on the fly, without co-ordination or federal and local buy-in.

“It’s like Groundhog Day,” Brown said. “They make the same announcements again and again but there’s no action. There’s no evidence that they’re actually building infrastructure.”

And Scarborough? You can whistle for your subway.