Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown says that by taking over the responsibility for TTC subways, the province would be able to “make sure” that needed projects like the relief line and the Line 2 extension get built and aren’t the subject of never-ending debates.
Brown made the comment during a one-on-one interview with CP24 on Tuesday, in which he discussed the five-point election platform that his party released over the weekend.
Among other things, that platform includes a promise to take over the responsibility for the “capital costs of building and maintaining Toronto’s subway infrastructure,” a move that it says would represent an annual investment of about $5 billion.
“The reality is that the city can’t amortize those costs over a period of time like the province can and that is one of the reasons that we talk and talk and talk about these subways and they don’t get built,” Brown told CP24, referring to a rule which prevents the city from running a deficit to fund infrastructure projects. “What I am saying is that we are going to make sure that these signature projects get built, whether it is the Scarborough extension, the Yonge relief line or the Sheppard extension. As long as the federal government kicks in some money too we are actually going to be able to realize these projects.”
Brown said that a Progressive Conservative government would actually provide “significant help for the City of Toronto when it comes to transit,” something he suggested that the Liberal government has failed to do.
In a subsequent interview with CP24, however, Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca warned that Brown will have to make $12 billion in cuts to pay for everything he has promised and could ultimately leave transit in worst shape than it is now.
“I have lived in the GTA my whole life, we know what happens when a Conservative gets his or her hands on public transit,” he said. “They killed and filled our Eglinton subway, they tolled and then sold Highway 407 and here we are a generation later still paying the consequences for those tragic transit and transportation decisions.”
Mayor Tory told CP24 on Monday night that while Brown’s plan for the TTC “sounds OK on first blush,” he wants to “really do the math on it” to see whether or it would be advantageous for the city.
Tory also said that he also has some questions regarding whether it would be feasible to separate the city’s subways from the rest of the TTC.
“I tend to look at it as an integrated system and if you try to take it apart it may cause some difficulty,” he said.
