Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tells Board of Trade Toronto should be planning its own transit

Thestar.com
Feb. 7, 2019
Katie Daubs

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government trusts Toronto on transit planning and was buoyed by promising signs from Queen’s Park on Thursday.

“I’m very pleased to hear that our infrastructure minister Francois-Philippe Champagne had a very positive meeting this afternoon at Queen’s Park where the Ontario government is obviously very serious about investing in a strong and prosperous future for Ontarians,” Trudeau said at the Toronto Region Board of Trade’s annual dinner Thursday evening. “We look forward to working with them to get this money flowing to
good projects that are going to help Toronto.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau participates in an armchair discussion with Toronto Region Board of Trade president Janet De Silva.

In a talk about innovation and infrastructure with Board of Trade president Jan De Silva, the Prime Minister referred to the $4.8 billion his government has committed to Toronto for public transit and said that he believes the city is the expert on what it needs.

Trudeau said “we all remember” stories of other federal governments who decided, “ ‘No, a subway line has to go here,’ or ‘There has to be a GO train stop in this particular riding because this is the minister’s.”

“We sort of said, ‘look, the federal government shouldn’t be drawing lines on the map’, ” he said as Toronto’s business elite dined.

The dinner’s focus was technology, innovation and the future of the region, and the event took place in one of the cavernous halls of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The room was bathed in blue, green and purple lights. Incandescent floating lightbulbs rotated in the centre of each table.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford did not appear to be in attendance and was not mentioned in the shout-outs to the “region’s most influential” people, which included Toronto Mayor John Tory; Federal Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Ahmed Hussen and Ontario’s Transportation Minister Jeff Yurek, in addition to various local mayors.

Board of Trade president Jan De Silva said that the world was at a crossroads between old and new economies, and Toronto embodied the promise of technology and innovation. Managed properly and “without fear,” she said, “Toronto will soar.”

“People need to feel there is a path for them and their children, and we, as business leaders, must be part of the solution,” she said.

Trudeau said that a “strong future” should be available to all and stressed the importance of investing in housing and transit and the “building blocks for a strong inclusive city that gives everyone a chance to succeed.”

Trudeau left without taking questions from the media. During his talk, he was not asked, and did not comment on, the controversy surrounding his government’s treatment of Quebec construction giant SNC-Lavalin.

The prime minister has previously denied that his office had “directed” the former justice minister to approve what’s known as a “deferred prosecution” of SNC-Lavalin over corruption and fraud charges it faces over alleged brivbes paid to Libyan officials.