Premier McGuinty says he’s losing patience with Toronto over transit fight
Posted February 21, 2012 2:19 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Premier Dalton McGuinty says he’s running out of patience with Toronto as its mayor battles with city council over transit plans.
McGuinty says the “time for talk is coming close to an end” and the city needs to get on with building public transit.
The premier’s words come as a special Toronto Transit Commission meeting gets underway this afternoon at which the general manager’s job is on the line.
A city councillor says there’s only one item on the agenda — a vote to buy out Gary Webster’s contract and dismiss him.
Observers say Webster’s job is on the chopping block because he doesn’t agree with Mayor Rob Ford’s plan to build new subways.
Earlier this month, Ford and his allies lost a crucial transit battle when council voted 25-18 in favour of TTC chairwoman Karen Stintz’s proposal of light-rail transit, instead of a subway.
The mayor insisted the vote was meaningless because the province would still go ahead with his subway plan, but McGuinty has said he must respect council’s decision on the future of the city’s transit.
Councillors voted for a plan to put light-rail lines on Eglinton Avenue and Finch Avenue West, and to study a subway extension on Sheppard Avenue.
The province is awaiting the results of that study.
McGuinty originally committed $8.15 billion in 2007 to a plan called Transit City, which called for more extensive light-rail on Eglinton, Sheppard, Finch and the Scarborough RT route. Transit City was almost entirely funded by the province, with the federal Conservatives chipping in $300 million.
But Ford declared his predecessor David Miller’s cherished transit project dead as soon as he took office in 2010, saying there would be no more tracks down the middle of Toronto streets.
“Well you know there was a Plan A under mayor Miller, and then there was a Plan B under Mayor Ford and now we’ve been asked to consider a Plan C,” McGuinty said Tuesday.
“So I can say that we’re running out of patience, I think the people of Toronto are running out of patience.”
Last March the premier and Ford announced a revamped, $12.6-billion transit project for the city that included light-rail and subway expansion.
The province vowed to contribute $8.4 billion to the plan.
