The Ontario government is moving with breakneck speed to expand much-needed transit options in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) – but it is in danger of leaving equity-deserving residents behind.
Transit expansion in our province is decades overdue. Road congestion and gridlock lead to billions of dollars in lost productivity, not to mention increased emissions contributing to the global climate crisis. Projected population growth requires better transit. Together, the Scarborough Subway Extension, Eglinton West LRT Extension, Ontario Line and Yonge North Subway Extension will bring much-needed relief to a transit and transportation network that is running at or beyond capacity. Even if the number of transit users has come down during the pandemic, we know that Ontario will rebound quickly, and mass transit will play a crucial role in building back better.
However, publicly funded transit infrastructure projects are equally opportunities to uplift and transform communities, providing sorely needed jobs, procurement opportunities and community benefits to residents who have historically been cut out of our shared prosperity. As a result of recent legislative changes, unfortunately, efforts to ensure inclusion and equity in our publicly funded infrastructure developments are headed off track, fast. The Ontario government needs to act now so transit projects meet their true transformative potential. This starts by restoring transparency and accountability in the procurement process.
As part of a historic Community Benefits Agreement around the construction of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, for example, Metrolinx committed to a 10 per cent equity hiring scheme for historically disadvantaged communities and equity seeking groups. Crucially, community groups received regular reports, provided feedback and were able to push back when the project outcomes lagged behind on the commitments.
It was not a perfect process, but it represented enormous progress. Rather than working together with community groups to build on this progress, Metrolinx appears to be cutting communities out of the planning, procurement and implementation processes – a move that raises red flags about how seriously the agency is taking its commitments to the communities impacted by the development.
There are many signs that Metrolinx, has changed since the passing of the new legislation. Gone are the days when meaningful community consultation was required. Now, Metrolinx’s public relations and communications staff simply inform communities of their decisions. Similarly, legislation has taken Metrolinx off the hook with regards to environmental concerns. The province removed the Environmental Commissioner’s Office and the Toronto Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), once an organization empowered to protect ecologically sensitive areas, no longer has any tools to do its job.
With important checks and balances removed, the agency began to change the way it talked about community benefits and the way it treated its community and labour partners (which were brought together under the umbrella of the Toronto Community Benefits Network). Instead of talking about minimum hiring targets for groups that have been historically shut out of the construction industry, like Black and Indigenous residents, and women, Metrolinx pivoted to vague claims about fair hiring practices and public realm improvements.
When TCBN brought these concerns to light, there was a quick about-face, where the media was informed that the new transit projects would keep hiring targets in place. There has been no official confirmation in writing of this decision. We remain concerned that without real, measurable commitments and community participation, Metrolinx is setting itself (and our communities) up to fail.
That is why on March 21, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (IDERD), the Toronto Community Benefits Network and its community and labour partners released an urgent call to local elected representatives, the Province of Ontario and its agencies (Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario), to work with community groups in a meaningful way to ensure major upcoming transit infrastructure projects also help create more inclusive, prosperous and just communities.
While we welcomed assurances that the agency would uphold a minimum ten percent hiring target for equity-deserving groups, this shouldn’t be an aspirational goal, but a contractual – to be expanded upon – first step to hold companies accountable.
Rosemary Powell is executive director of the Toronto Community Benefits Network
