Karen Stintz ready to sell majority of Toronto Hydro to pay for relief line

Mayoral candidate now wants to sell a much bigger piece of Toronto Hydro to fund a new subway line

Toronto Star
March 24, 2014
By Betsy Powell

Mayoral candidate Karen Stintz wants to sell a majority of city-owned Toronto Hydro to help pay for a downtown subway relief line.

The midtown councillor has previously said she’s committed to selling off at least 10 per cent or leasing a portion of the electricity company to help fund transit construction.

On Monday, Stintz said she would like to work with the provincial government “to modernize” the funding framework so more than half of the $1.14 billion city-owned asset can be sold.

“I believe we should consider selling the majority of Toronto Hydro and using the revenue raised to invest in phase one of the relief line,” said the former TTC chair. The downtown relief line could cost more than $7 billion.

The city would have to pay a provincial sales tax of 33 per cent on any sale above 10 per cent. Stintz said she believes she, as mayor, could persuade the province to forgo the tax as part of its capital contribution to the new subway line. The city is Toronto Hydro’s sole shareholder and for 2013 received $41.9 million as a dividend payment.

“I’m confident we will get the change,” Stintz said standing behind a podium that campaign staff temporarily installed on the southwest corner of Carlaw Ave.,and Gerrard St. The proposed U-shaped route would tunnel beneath the corner in Leslieville, a rapidly developing neighbourhood just east of the Don Valley Parkway.

Stintz, and the other major mayoral challengers have made fighting traffic congestion and improving transit a focus of their election campaign - with varying approaches.

“I support the relief line; experts said that we need it. But selling Hydro is not in the public interest,” Olivia Chow told reporters Monday.

“Ten per cent, I have no problem. But anything after that, you have to go to the province,” Mayor Rob Ford said. “We’re going to pay a huge amount of tax. So no, I don’t support it right now, unless the province changes the regulations; that’s fine.”

Even if the funding is found, it could take decades before the relief line is completed, even though the city’s chief planner, Jennifer Keesmaat, has called it a “critical, missing infrastructure investment.”

“I can’t tell you when exactly we’re going to break ground, but we need to keep moving on the initiative to make sure that we don’t wait another 30 years for it to get built,” Stintz said.

Stintz has also promised to appoint a transportation czar charged with finding solutions to relieve Toronto’s worsening traffic woes.