Premier promises better transit for York Region

YorkRegion.com
April 17, 2014
By Sean Pearce

Transit and transportation infrastructure are poised to take centre stage in the upcoming provincial budget, but the two opposition parties say the government can’t be trusted to get the job done.

Addressing the Toronto Region Board of Trade last week, Premier Kathleen Wynne again stressed the need for action on the transportation and transit file and announced her government’s intention to make close to $29 billion available over the next decade by taking a portion of the HST collected on fuel and putting it toward building transit, roads, highways and bridges around the province and re-allotting the 7.5 cents of the gas tax it collects and dedicating it for transportation purposes.

Ms Wynne also mentioned raising funds through the previously announced green bonds program and said other means of generating the needed cash would be unveiled with the provincial budget scheduled to come May 1.

On Thursday, Ms Wynne and Transportation Minister Glen Murray stopped by an Etobicoke train maintenance yard to publicize the government’s plan to implement two-way, all-day electrified GO Transit express rail service on all of its lines over the next 10 years. Speaking to the York Region Media Group after the announcement, Ms Wynne said the arrival of electric express rail running every 15 minutes around the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton will go a long way toward increasing the inter-connectivity in the region.

“For me, all of these things are about establishing connections,” she said. “Working with Metrolinx and municipalities, we are going to move on better transportation for the people of this region.”

Prior to Ms Wynne’s comments, Mr. Murray had also stressed the importance of moving ahead with all-day, two-way express rail
running every 15 minutes, suggesting it would create a rail network similar to those enjoyed by the denizens of London, England and Paris, France.

The electrified trains would be shorter than their diesel predecessors, but will also run much more frequently, he explained.

“It’s very dramatic,” Mr. Murray said. “Some have described it as a surface subway.”

And while some of the logistics, such as sharing and/or laying tracks and constructing new grade separations has yet to be entirely determined, Mr. Murray assured the province’s plan is both credible and costed. Neither the Progressive Conservatives nor the NDP can say that, he added.

All that said, it still begs the question as to where that leaves the Yonge Street subway extension up to Richmond Hill.

Explaining she grew up in Richmond Hill, Ms Wynne notes the Yonge extension is tied closely to the available capacity on the Yonge-University-Spadina line and one of the reasons a discussion has begun on the feasibility of a downtown relief line to ease the crowding. The Yonge subway extension has been identified as a priority project and remains so, she said, adding Richmond Hill MPP Reza Moridi and Oak Ridges-Markham MPP Helena Jaczek have been pushing for it for a long time.

As to which may move forward first, the Yonge extension or the downtown relief line, Ms Wynne said it’s difficult to say at this point. “Engineers have yet to weigh in on that,” she said. “However, my guess is there would be some overlap on those projects.”

Mr. Murray was also hesitant to attach definitive timelines to specific projects, noting the province is trying to get back to the basics of the Big Move and put prioritization back in the hands of the experts at Metrolinx and leave the politicians out of it. As the all-day, two-way, electrified express rail gets going, capacity on certain forms of transit may open up and the priorities may change, he said.

If nothing else, having a reliable and steady stream of funds will allow many projects to advance to the point of being shovel-ready, Ms Wynne said. Naturally, all of these plans hinge on the budget passing and the government staving off a snap election.

For his part, York Regional chairperson Bill Fisch said he’s pleased to see progress, despite the fact nothing is assured until the budget passes. That said, he’s hopeful the government will be forthcoming with some funding to move the Yonge subway extension forward and to create some additional capacity.

“It’s good to have something to look forward to over the next 10 to 20 years,” Mr. Fisch said. “It’s not everything we’re looking for, but it’s a good start.”

Richmond Hill Mayor Dave Barrow is similarly optimistic the Yonge subway extension will be among the various projects the province will be ultimately supporting in the short-term.

The same day Ms Wynne was in Toronto talking up her latest vision for transit and transportation to the board of trade, PC leader Tim Hudak and his transportation critic, Doug Holyday, were at the Bloor-Yonge Subway station pledging to build new subways without raising taxes. Mr. Holyday, a former deputy mayor of Toronto, said he’d seen first-hand how the Liberals have bungled transit.

“Certainly, great cities need great transit,” he said. “And this morning’s example of the crowding here at this station tells us we should have done something a long time ago.

“When Tim and the Conservatives form government, we’ll get on that job.”

At the same time, the NDP’s urban transit critic, Rosario Marchese, sent out a media release asserting people can’t trust the Liberals to keep their promises. When it comes to transit and transportation, Ms Wynne and her government has a track record of waste, delay and mismanagement, he said, citing the establishment of transit agency Metrolinx and the $700-million cost of implementing the Presto as being among the examples.

“Liberals wasted transit money and delayed important upgrades. It’s no wonder people don’t trust (Ms) Wynne to deliver on her transit promises,” Mr. Marchese added.