Trudeau, Wynne mark opening of Toronto-Vaughan subway extension

Torontosun.com
Antonella Arturso
Dec. 15, 2017

TTC subway riders are about to find out what $3.2 billion buys in underground transit as the Line 1 extension to Vaughan opens this weekend.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Premier Kathleen Wynne, Toronto Mayor John Tory and York Region Chairman and CEO Wayne Emmerson cut a ribbon Friday to commemorate the first TTC subway to extend beyond the 416 boundaries.

As the politicians celebrated inside the York University station, one of six new TTC subway stations, subcontract workers claiming unpaid wages protested outside an issue that still has to be settled before the final price tag is clear.

A project jointly-funded by federal, provincial, City of Toronto and York Region governments, the subway is designed to get suburbanites out of their cars and onto transit in a move to ease gridlock.

While the York University stop is likely to prove very popular with students and staff, several of the other stations are not in pedestrian-friendly zones, and many 905ers would have to take a bus to them which would mean double fares.

Politicians are predicting more development around the new line extension, although it’s big box-type stores as far as the eye can see surrounding the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre station.

The TTC under orders from politicians has already built a Sheppard line dubbed by critics ‘the subway to nowhere,’ and there has been concern voiced about the value of the multi-billion-dollar Scarborough subway that will now feature only one stop.

Still, the politicians attending the celebration ahead of Sunday’s opening of the 8.6-kilometre Toronto-York Spadina extension were enthusiastic about this 905 breakthrough project.

Trudeau said this line will help get people to university, job opportunities and community events.

“As Torontonians know all too well, growing population has resulted in more cars on the road, more people on the bus, more time spent waiting for the subway which means less time at home,” Trudeau said. “Transit services had trouble keeping up with the growing demand.”

Premier Kathleen Wynne credited former finance ministers Liberal Greg Sorbara and Conservative Jim Flaherty, who reached across a political divide to help get the project rolling.

One of the first things he learned when he became mayor was that the York-Spadina project was over budget and behind schedule, likely not to be opened until 2019 and at a cost of hundreds of millions more than projected, Tory said.

He said TTC CEO Andy Byford came forward with a plan the mayor endorsed that put the project “back on track.”

“This is an important investment in transit and in the Greater Toronto region,” Tory said. “We have to keep investing in our transit network.”

Doug Ford, who has announced plans to run against Tory in next fall’s municipal election, said the York-Spadina project is $1.2 billion over its initial budget, and people who worked on it are being forced to take a fraction of what they’re owed.

“John Tory, pay your bills to the hardworking people who built the subway,” Ford said. “This is another billion-dollar boondoggle.”