Good transit planning cannot take a backseat to Ford’s ego

April 10, 2019

TORONTO — Green Party of Ontario Mike Schreiner released the following statement after the Premier unveiled his transit plans:

“The Premier needs to put his money where his mouth is. Will this plan see the light of day when the Premier only announced funding for 40% of the costs?

Let me be clear, I fully support ambitious transit planning that gets people moving and gets subways built. But if we are going to upend four transit projects that have already gone through significant planning and design, then we better be 100% confident it’s the right move.

And we need to make sure other orders of government are on side.

How can we expect cooperation from City Hall when Ford has kept Mayor Tory in the dark about his plans, and how can we expect buy-in from Ottawa when Ford has been waging war over climate action.

The Premier’s obsession with slapping his own signs, slogans and logos onto public infrastructure gives me little confidence that he has the silver bullet or that he can play nice with other governments.

We’ve seen this playbook before from Ford when he and his late brother derailed the Transit City plan.

That move led to more delays and cost overruns, not fewer. The people of Scarborough would be using a 7-stop LRT today, not stuck waiting on never ending promises.

Good transit planning should not take a backseat to Doug Ford’s ego.”

-30-