Mayor John Tory says he plans to meet with the leaders of Ontario’s three main political parties to get a better sense of how they would build transit in the city if elected.
Last week, the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party vowed $5 billion for new and existing subway projects in Toronto. The plan would see the province assume hundreds of millions of dollars in operating costs for the subway system.
Responding to the plan Monday, Tory said that the proposals are encouraging, though the city would have to further asses the logistics of treating the subway system as a separate part of the TTC.
“I think a lot of people would look at the Toronto transit system, the TTC, the part that operates inside the City of Toronto as an integrated system. Buses and streetcars, I hope more microtransit over time, operate within the context of one integrated system,” Tory said. “If you were to in some way or any way take it apart, you would have to analyze what the consequences of that are financially and also the consequences in terms of the integrity of that system.”
He added “I’m just glad that people on the board of trade, that people in all political parties are talking about transit in Toronto.”
Tory said that his objective in the last federal election was to make sure that all parties had some kind of plan for building transit in the city so that Toronto “would win” no matter who was in power. He said his goal for next year’s provincial election is the same.
“My objective is exactly the same now – I want to see all of the parties put forward platforms for transit, perhaps done in different ways, that will make sure we can build the public transportation we must build,” Tory said. “In that regard, I’m happy to see the Ontario PCs put forward their proposals which we will now analyze and we’re going to have further meetings with Mr. Brown in the coming days, with Premier Wynne and with Ms. Horwath to flesh out their proposals and to get what Toronto needs to the maximum extent that we can.”
Ontarians are set to head to the polls in a provincial election next June.
On Monday, the Toronto Board of Trade released a paper calling on the province to upload all municipal and regional transit agencies across the GTHA and Waterloo region to the province in order to save money and better integrate transit across all regions. The Board of Trade proposed a new provincial agency dubbed “Superlinx” to oversee an integrated system.
Tory said that the proposal is “complicated” and would need to be examined closely. He added that however the province wants to help move forward transit in the city, it will be important that Toronto residents “don’t lose control of our own destiny.”
Tory also responded to reporters’ questions about the King Street Pilot Project, which has seen vehicular traffic restricted along a stretch of King Street so that public transit along that route can operate effectively and without getting stuck in gridlock.
Tory said that while the pilot project is helping to move 65,000 people per day much more quickly along King Street, he is open to making some changes that might help business owners who say they’ve noticed a decline in customers.
“There is every possibility we will make changes that are reasonable and progressive,” Tory said.
However he added that the project has to be given a chance to succeed.
“I would say I think we have to give it a fair chance,” Tory said.
- With files from The Canadian Press
