Relentless on north subway

Thornhill Post
January, 2014
By Alan Shefman, Ward 5 Councillor, Vaughan

One of the priorities I set for myself after the last municipal election in 2010 was to do everything possible to promote the development of the Yonge Street subway to Richmond Hill. Not only was this totally sensible to support, it was clearly the most significant issue to residents as I talked to them during that election.

Well it still isn’t being built nor has it been funded. At the same time Metrolinx has continued to identify this link in the GTA rapid transit network as a priority. VivaNext, the York Region Transit authority agency responsible for building rapid transit in our region, continues to push forward with this critical link.

In the face of the huge obstacles, primarily a lack of a system for funding rapid transit development but also the resistance of the TTC to this project, we are fighting an uphill battle.

And we haven’t given up.

Last year, Valerie Burke, Godwin Chan and I started our latest campaign to get the subway extension project moving again. Later, joined by local MP Peter Kent, we met with the leadership of Metrolinx and with Anne Golden of the Transit Investment Strategy Advisory Panel. We have also met with CivicAction and with various individual political leaders. Finally we have had discussions with infrastructure funding sources to explore P3 Canada Fund approaches to subway building. In a word, we continue our relentless pursuit of our goal — the building of the long-awaited Yonge Street subway extension — the most viable and needed rapid transit project in the area.

You can help! Write to Premier Wynne at premier@ontario.ca, asking her to help move this project forward.