Kathleen Wynne stopping John Tory’s plan for tolls on DVP, Gardiner

Premier Kathleen Wynne is slamming the brakes on Toronto Mayor John Tory’s plan to toll the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner Expressway by pledging additional transit funding.

Thestar.com
Jan. 26, 2017
By Robert Benzie

Premier Kathleen Wynne is slamming the brakes on Toronto Mayor John Tory’s plan to toll the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner Expressway by pledging additional transit funding, the Star has learned.

Wynne is to announce Friday at a Richmond Hill bus yard that the provincial government will not give Toronto council permission to impose the levies on the two city-owned highways.

At the same time the premier will outline “hundreds of millions of dollars” in new money annually for municipalities with public transit systems.

“We’re trying to help people get ahead and stay ahead - even a toll of $20 more a week is not affordable for Ontario families,” an official confided.

“The province is indicating that there can’t be a conversation about tolling while other options (for commuters) are unavailable,” the insider said Thursday.

That effectively means tolling Toronto highways is off the table until Tory’s “SmartTrack” regional express rail expansion is up and running around 2023.

While the mayor’s toll plan forced Wynne to fork over more money, he will not attend the premier’s announcement.

“Toronto city council sent a very clear message: We have a plan to make much-needed investments in transit that will help fix traffic congestion in Toronto and throughout the region,” Tory’s office said in a statement Thursday night.

“If the Ontario government has decided to deny a regulatory change requested by the overwhelming majority of city council, the mayor would expect the provincial government to take serious and immediate action to address the city’s transit, transportation, childcare and housing needs.”

With Finance Minister Charles Sousa set to finally balance the books this spring, Queen’s Park is flush and can afford more for transit - over and above the $31.5 billion Wynne has promised provincewide over 10 years.

The cash infusion to the treasury is enabling the province to double the share of gasoline tax revenue for municipalities.

Last month, Toronto council overwhelmingly backed Tory’s move to impose road tolls on the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway, two of the region’s busiest arteries, and use the proceeds for transit.

While Wynne and Tory are close political allies, the province will not be able to come up with the $300 million annually that tolls of $2 or more per trip would have brought in. Toronto is expected to get just $170 million annually.

While Wynne had publicly backed Tory’s plan, many Liberals are anxious about it with an election looming on June 7, 2018.

“If Mayor Tory and his council determine that they would like to embark on a tolling of certain roads - local roads in the city of Toronto - then we will work with them,” the premier said Dec. 7.

“Because I think that it’s important that they have the ability to raise the money to augment (provincial funding), because we’re investing billions of dollars in Toronto,” she said at the time.

“If there’s more that they need to do, they need to find resources to do that and we need to co-operate with them as they make those decisions.”

But both Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath are opposed to Toronto being allowed to toll its highways, meaning Wynne might have paid for it politically next year.

Inside the Liberal caucus it has been as explosive an issue as the rising hydro bills that the government, which trails the Tories in public opinion polls, is moving to address.

“The fastest way for us to lose next year’s election is to let Tory put a toll on the Gardiner - he’ll get the money, we’ll get the blame,” warned one MPP, who represents a riding in the 905 region.

Another MPP from elsewhere in Ontario complained that if Toronto is able to impose a toll on its roads, his local municipal council may demand to do the same thing.

“This will not sell in my riding. People are already pissed off enough about hydro,” said the MPP.

Both spoke on condition of anonymity in order to freely discuss internal party talks.

While Tory has a lot of support for tolling at city hall, he faced criticism from suburban councillors, worried that their constituents would be collateral damage.

Mayors from outside Toronto have also derided city council’s proposal.

Mississauga’s Bonnie Crombie has said tolls would target people who commute to work downtown, which could harm the regional economy.

“(Tory) has chosen to implement road tolls that will not only affect residents in his city, but those in the 905 as well,” Crombie said in November.

“It’s important that Mayor Tory understand the ramifications of his actions on business and tourism. As Toronto owns the Gardiner and DVP, he is free to impose these tolls without input from his neighbours in the 905.”

Durham Region chair Roger Anderson blasted the proposal as “a short-sighted solution to Toronto’s problems.”

“They’re literally taxing the 905 to pay for Toronto’s problems,” Anderson noted last fall.

Oshawa Mayor John Henry has also voiced his opposition.

“There’s just no more money that people have left anymore. I use the DVP to get to Toronto. I think this will ricochet. For the folks that would have gone to the Eaton Centre, they will stay and shop in Oshawa.”