Road tolls nixed: Tory wants Wynne to stop treating him like ‘boy in short pants’

An angry Toronto Mayor John Tory lashed out on Friday after Premier Kathleen Wynne nixed the city’s road toll plans, saying it’s time to stop being treated like a ‘boy in short pants’ when dealing with the province.

The city learned on Thursday night that Wynne was denying Toronto’s request to charge tolls on two major commuter highways, in favour of giving Ontario municipalities a bigger share of gas tax money for transit.

Wynne said there weren’t enough commuter options in place to justify adding tolls to the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway, where Tory has said he wanted to charge a $2 toll.

“The province is not supporting plans for municipal road tolls at this time,” the Liberal government said in a statement on Friday.

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While not coming right out and saying “no” to tolls in the future at a news conference on Friday morning, Wynne said commuters need to have reliable transit options in place before revenue-generating measures like road tolls are implemented.

The premier said that starting in 2019, the share of the gas tax that goes to municipalities will increase from two cents per litre to four cents per litre by 2021. However, it won’t increase the tax that drivers pay at the pumps.

“We’re doubling the amount of money the province gives to local transit agencies through the provincial share of the existing gas tax,” Wynne said at the Richmond Hill Transit Facility on Friday.

“This is not an increase in gas tax; this is existing gas tax and we are doubling that share.”

Not enough, Tory said in a spirited news conference after the Wynne announcement.

“The gas tax increase they have announced is less than Toronto would have been able to raise on its own, with a simple regulatory change,” Tory argued. “Yes, it saves us the implementation costs of a tolling system, but it denies us long-term control over our finances.

“By denying this regulatory change, the province has severely impacted the city’s ability to solve its own fiscal challenges and invest in its priorities,” the mayor added.

In a moment that some found humorous, an angry Tory expressed his frustration with Wynne’s decision.

“It is time that we stop being treated, and I stop being treated, as a little boy going up to Queen’s Park in short pants to say ‘Please, could you help me out with something that I thought was in the City of Toronto Act that I could do’ and to be told ‘No, I’m terribly sorry, go away and come back some other day.’ ”

Ontario currently commits $335 million of gas tax funding to about 100 municipalities for transit, which the province estimates would increase to $642 million in 2021-22.

As Wynne made the announcement, she and Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca stressed that their toll decision is about affordability, which, along with a promise to trim electricity bills, could signal a focus on pocketbook issues leading into the election.

Tory has previously said a $2 toll would raise about $200 million a year to help transit funding. The cost would be split between Toronto taxpayers and the 40 per cent of commuters from outside the city who use the DVP and Gardiner.