Ontario budgeting $25 billion for four major transit projects in Toronto

Cp24.com
March 29, 2019
Kayla Goodfield

The Ontario government is budgeting more than $25 billion for four major transit projects in Toronto as they look to “upload” the subway network, CTV News Toronto has learned.

Premier Doug Ford said the province has the ability to pay off the amount over a longer period of time, which would give more flexibility to finance these proposed transit projects.

The City of Toronto would be on the hook for an unknown portion of the costs as well.

“We will build a transit system like this province has never seen before,” Ford said during question period on Thursday. “We’re putting tens of billions of dollars into the largest infrastructure transit plan ever in North America.”

Earlier this week, the provincial government announced their plans to alter the design and execution of four major transit projects in the city.

Proposed alterations to the projects were detailed in letters posted to the city’s website on Tuesday. The letters addressed modifications to the Scarborough, Yonge and Eglinton West extensions, as well as the relief line.

A look at how the province’s plans differ from the city’s efforts:

Scarborough subway extension

• City council has approved a one-stop subway extension of Line 2, terminating at Scarborough Town Centre.
• The province wants to build a three-stop extension of Line 2, continuing north from a stop at Scarborough Town Centre.

Eglinton West extension

• City council and the TTC prefer a surface-level extension of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT line, according to the letters.
• The province has proposed a significant portion of this extension be built underground.

Relief line south

• The TTC previously had plans to have the relief line use “existing technology and traditional delivery methods” currently being used on Line2, according to the letters.
• However, the province now says city council and the TTC are contemplating using a different technology for the project than the one currently being used on Line 2.

Yonge North subway extension

• The province wants the progress of this project to run in-parallel with design work related to the relief line so the “in-service date for the extension is fast-tracked to the greatest extent possible.”

On Wednesday, Toronto Mayor John Tory said he is committed to continuing discussions with the province regarding the matter but expressed concern over possible delays.

“We absolutely must sit down with each other and resolve and discuss our differences and in the end find a way to get transit built without delay,” he said. “We know that (the negotiation table) is the only place where we can stand up for Toronto and protect our transit system and I think it is the only place we can go where we can insist that the province show us project-by-project, step-by-step how the changes that are proposed do not result in delays.”

“We can’t afford to have delays in these transit projects.”

Ford said he is certain that the province will be able to deliver these plans on time and under budget.

“We’re going to deliver transit faster, better and less expensive than any time before,” he said.

Speaking with CP24 on Thursday evening, Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti said he believes the Ford government’s plan to “upload” the subway is “very positive” as it will extend Line 1 to the 905 faster.

“I think we’ve had a lot of positive signals over the past year and this quest for the Yonge subway with Doug Ford actually started during the provincial campaign when we reached out to all the party leaders to sign a shovel to commit to the Yonge subway extension all the way up to Highway 7,” he said.

“It’s the most justified subway investment. It’s our top transit priority in York Region.”

Scarpitti said the residents of York Region are “fed up” with the way transit is being built currently.

“We finished the environmental assessment for the Yonge subway extension up to Highway 7 over a decade ago and we’ve been waiting after that environmental assessment was completed to advance the project,” he said.

“It’s taken a year and a half just to set up the office to start the design work and that’s where we get into these jurisdictional issues, which would be gone if the subway construction is uploaded (by the provincial government).”

The letters posted online earlier in the week said the province is seeking a meeting during the first week of April to “provide further details, regarding the province’s preferred approach at designing and implementing our priority transit expansion projects.”