Ontario expanding Hazel McCallion LRT into downtown Mississauga and Brampton

The news comes amid heavy criticism over Metrolinx’s other delayed LRT projects.

Thestar.com
Jan. 19, 2024
Lex Harvey

Ontario is expanding the Hazel McCallion LRT into downtown Mississauga and Brampton four years after scaling back the transit line to cut costs.

In a Jan. 17 letter obtained by the Star, Transportation Minister Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria directed Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster to “bring forward a plan to build the downtown Mississauga loop and an extension into downtown Brampton.”

The news comes amid heavy criticism over Metrolinx’s other delayed LRT projects, including the embattled Eglinton Crosstown LRT, which was initially set to be complete by 2020 but as of now has no declared opening date.

The Finch West LRT, another major Metrolinx project, is set to open later this year after it was quietly delayed last summer.

The Hazel McCallion LRT, formerly the Hurontario-Main LRT, was initially set to stretch for 23 kilometres and 26 stops linking Mississauga’s lakefront to Brampton’s downtown. But in a contentious 2015 vote, Brampton’s city council rejected the plan by former premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals to extend the transit line into downtown along Main Street, cutting the project short by four stops at Steeles Avenue.

In 2019, the LRT was once again on the chopping block, when Verster announced Metrolinx was shortening the transit line due to budget pressures, removing a proposed loop around Mississauga’s city centre and eliminating three stops extending the LRT to Brampton.

Mississauga and Brampton leaders have pushed the government to reinstate the nixed loop and Brampton stops, with Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown calling the $4.6-billion LRT “half a project” to Mississauga News earlier this month. Premier Doug Ford has previously said he would support reinstating the Mississauga loop but this is the first indication his government would make it happen.

It’s not clear how the new additions will affect the opening date for the Hazel McCallion LRT, which was set to be complete this year. "When construction nears completion and we move into the testing and commissioning phase, we will be in a better position to provide a specific opening date," Metrolinx spokesperson Andrea Ernesaks told the Star.

“Peel is one of Canada’s fastest-growing regions,” Ministry of Transportation spokesperson Dakota Brasier said in a statement. “Our government will continue to invest historic amounts in connected transportation there -- and across the province -- so that Ontarians can spend less time commuting and more time at home, doing what matters most to them.”

At Queen’s Park Thursday, Liberal Leader and former Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie, who has long advocated for the expansion of the line, said she was “delighted that they are doing the right thing and considering putting the downtown loop back in the LRT.”

Crombie, who stepped down as Mississauga mayor last Friday, was asked by reporters if the Tories were acting for political reasons over concerns they could lose Peel seats to her Liberals in the 2026 election.

“I can’t speculate to their motives, but they’re doing the right thing,” she said, welcoming the PC policy reversal.

“This is a commitment that the premier has made in the past ... and I'm delighted that is being considered to be put back in the plan.”

In the letter, Sarkaria referenced the troubles with the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, which he blamed on Wynne’s Liberals, who have not been in power since 2018.

“While projects like the Eglinton Crosstown started under the previous Liberals have faced years of delays, our government is doing things differently,” Sarkaria wrote. “Construction on the Hazel McCallion LRT, championed by Premier Ford, continues to make progress, including the near completion of the Operations and Maintenance Storage Facility for the project.”

Sarkaria asked Verster to develop a business case and strategy for bids to build both the Mississauga and Brampton extensions, due to the Ministry of Transportation on Feb. 5.