Karen Stintz and Rob Ford aren’t getting on board with the province’s Scarborough subway proposal.
On Wednesday, in the latest indication of the widening gulf between Queen’s Park and City Hall over the contentious suburban transit issue, both the TTC chair and the mayor criticized Ontario Transportation Minister Glen Murray’s recent subway proposal.
Last week, Murray announced that the Liberal government intends to use $1.4 billion in provincial money to build a short extension of the Bloor-Danforth line to the Scarborough Town Centre. It would run largely above ground along the current route of the Scarborough RT.
Following an afternoon meeting with Premier Kathleen Wynne, Stintz all but rejected the idea, saying “it doesn’t meet council’s objectives” for providing public transportation to the underserved part of town.
“This isn’t a subway,” she said. “It’s an elevated two-stop route.”
Stintz depicted Murray’s line as fraught with problems because it would require moving the existing Kennedy subway station, possibly delay the completion of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, and necessitate taking the Scarborough RT out of service for three years. The TTC has also raised concerns that a subway couldn’t handle the tight turns of Murray’s proposed design.
“Technically we don’t even know if it’s feasible,” Stintz said.
The TTC chair favours an unfunded plan council approved in July for a longer four-stop extension, which would run all the way to Sheppard and cost at least $2.8 billion.
Earlier in the day, Mayor Ford made clear that he also prefers the subway approved by council, but added that if the province wants to pay for the entirety of Murray’s shortened route then it’s worth looking at.
“I’m very flexible on both routes, but we should stick to what council approved in the first place and take it from there,” Ford said.
But Ford disagrees with the province’s assertion that the city should be on the hook for any cost overruns associated with Murray’s subway plan, including $85 million in sunk costs from cancelling the Scarborough LRT. In a letter sent to Stintz Tuesday, the provincial transit agency Metrolinx said the city would be responsible for any excess costs.
“Glen Murray said he was going to pay for the subway without any overruns. Now Metrolinx is saying we’re responsible for it,” said Ford. “Well, that’s not what Glen Murray said, right? We’ll be getting things straightened out as soon as possible.”
According to a council motion approved in July, the city’s support for the longer subway is contingent on a number of factors, including securing funding commitments from the province and federal government by September 30. Stintz said that if the conditions aren’t met, then the city and province would revert back to the Scarborough LRT plan agreed to last year. The intergovernmental agreement for the project is still technically on the books.
But the LRT was to be fully funded by the same money Murray has now allocated to his abbreviated subway. It is far from certain that the Liberal government would agree to fund the LRT, particularly after winning an August by-election in Scarborough-Guildwood on a promise to build a subway.
Minister Murray’s office did not return a request for comment Wednesday evening. But as news of Stintz’s dismissive comments broke, he sent out a defiant message on Twitter.
“Turn the page. Scarborough subway is being built,” it said.
Stintz was not concerned when asked about the possibility that Queen’s Park could refuse to fund the LRT if no subway agreement is reached. She said that either council’s longer underground route or the light rail line will be built.
“We know we’re going to be building transit in the city. That part we know,” she told reporters. “Nothing has been derailed.”
