Local priorities

NRU
June 14, 2018
Rachael Williams

With Ontario voters electing a Progressive Conservative government to lead the province for the next four years, municipal politicians in the GTA are seeking assurances that their interests will be represented at Queen’s Park.

The June 7 provincial election saw sweeping changes in Ontario’s political landscape, with the Liberals losing official party status in a resounding loss to the Progressive Conservatives. Led by newly-minted premier Doug Ford, PC candidates defeated multiple Liberal incumbents leading to a sea of Tory blue across the 905 regions.
“I think there was certainly a move province-wide for change and I think that was reflected in a change of government,” said Ajax mayor Steve Parish.

Ajax was one of the hotly-contested ridings that saw three-time Liberal incumbent Joe Dickson lose to PC candidate Rod Phillips, former president and CEO of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.

“The casino was a very big local issue,” said Parish. “The perception was that the Liberal incumbent had not protected the Ajax interest in terms of maintaining the casino in Ajax. It was seen as something that hurt him significantly.”

Great Canadian Gaming Corporation announced in April it would be building a new casino in Pickering and closing the Ajax facility. Phillips (and Ford) campaigned on a commitment to keep the casino in Ajax.

“I can only take the new government at their word,” said Parish.

The provincial election results could also have implications for Hamilton, with PC candidate Donna Skelly winning in the new riding of Flamborough-Glanbrook. Skelly, who was elected to Hamilton council in a 2016 by-election, is a staunch critic of the recently approved 14-kilometre light rail transit project and has butted heads with several members of council including Mayor Fred Eisenberger.

During the provincial campaign, Eisenberger tweeted that Skelly “doesn’t much care about Hamilton” and has been attempting to undermine council’s position on the file.
Reluctant to comment on how this tenuous relationship would play out with Skelly representing Hamilton at Queen’s Park, Eisenberger sent NRU a 574-word post-election statement, with one line congratulating Skelly on her victory.

The Tories, who were shut out of Brampton and Mississauga in the 2014 election, swept Mississauga, and won two of five ridings in Brampton, with the NDP claiming victory in the remaining three.
Brampton mayor Linda Jeffrey and Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie both have strong ties to the Liberal party. Jeffrey served as Brampton’s Liberal MPP from 2003 to 2014 and was a cabinet minister under Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne.

Crombie was a Liberal MP for Mississauga-Streetsville from 2008 to 2011 before running locally.

Under the previous provincial government, significant financial investments were made in both cities, including a pledge to fund a $1.4-billion LRT along Hurontario Street and a commitment to fund rapid transit along the Dundas corridor in Mississauga.

Crombie said she had “no concerns at this time” as Ford committed to fully-funding the Hurontario LRT during his election campaign.

In Brampton, the provincial Liberals pledged to invest $90-million in a new university campus which Jeffrey expects to be fulfilled. The Liberals also committed to expanding Peel Memorial Centre for Integrated Health and Wellness, although there was never a firm commitment on how much would be provided by Queen’s Park.

“That’s really all we got, was a commitment,” said Jeffrey. “We as a city are planning for a third hospital because we’re going to be a million people by 2041 or sooner. We need a provincial government that is going to help us keep my population healthy.”

Halton regional councillor Mike Cluett said two-way, all-day GO service along the Milton line, owned by Canadian Pacific, remains one of the region’s top priorities.

“CP...has been dragging [its] feet with the province for years. Freight pays more than passenger trains so they stick with the freight. They have allowed a few more lines over the years but now Milton will have a university and college campus. We need full two-way all-day service,” he said.

Cluett told NRU the Town of Milton has been in talks with Mississauga, Toronto and Cambridge about the Missing Link, a proposed new railway line that would divert freight traffic from the Milton line to free up the line for commuter rail traffic.

“Initial costs were roughly $6-billion dollars spread out over three levels of government, but that fell by the wayside,” he said.

With the PC victory, Cluett said he is “going in with eyes wide open” despite Ford’s insistence on finding efficiencies in the public sector.

“We understand the pressures, but we still have to work [together],” he said.