Toronto mayoral candidate Brad Bradford is promising to have shovels in the ground on the largely unfunded Scarborough East LRT by 2030.
At a news conference Tuesday, Bradford announced he would travel to Ottawa himself to secure a third of the funding needed to bring the Scarborough East Rapid Transit Line to life.
“Top priority means, for me, that when I’m elected mayor, I guarantee I will have shovels in the ground for the Scarborough East LRT by 2030, by the end of my first term as your mayor,” he said.
The project would see an 18.6-kilometre light rail service run from Kennedy Station to Kingston Road, before turning north and then heading west on Sheppard Avenue. It would include stops at U of T Scarborough, Malvern Town Centre and a future subway stop at McCowan Road.
A 2023 report from city staff pegged the cost of the project at $4.65 billion.
As it stands, the feds nor the provincial government have committed to fund the project, with the latter telling CTV News in April that the transit line was not on their list of priorities.
The line is separate from the three-stop subway extension being built by the province, as well as the bus rapid transit corridor being built to temporarily replace service from the decommissioned SRT line. Olivia Chow is expected to open that busway later this month.
Chow put forward a motion in April 2026 to classify the project as a top transit priority, while pushing for equal cost-sharing from other levels of government, and establishing a working group and community advisory board to advance the project.
Bradford, however, accused Chow of forgetting about Scarborough during his media availability.
Bradford says Scarborough residents are desperate for better transit options, pointing out that some constituents he’s spoken to are spending as much as four hours a day on their commute.
“When did we decide that that was something that we accepted. When did Toronto decide that Scarborough’s version of transit was going to be less? It’s not good enough, guys. It’s not even close,” he said.
In a statement to CTV News, Chow’s office said that, by the end of this year, the city will have $377 million set aside to build the line.
“This is enough for the City to put a down payment on the Scarborough East Rapid Transit line and finance the rest of the City’s share,” a spokesperson said in an email.
In a subsequent statement on Tuesday afternoon, Chow’s campaign also criticized Bradford for not advancing the project while a member of the TTC board under the administration of former mayor John Tory.
“Brad spent four years on the TTC board and didn’t advance Scarborough transit. The SERT didn’t even make it to 10 per cent design under Bradford’s watch. Since Chow has been elected, the line is approved, design work is funded properly, and we’re moving forward,” the statement noted.
Meanwhile, mayoral candidate Chris Alexander said in a statement that Scarborough residents get promised transit “every election and the promises arrive with the lawn signs and leave with them.”
“A promise made six weeks before a vote in the neighbourhood where you need the votes is not a plan,” he said in an email.
“You are being asked to believe one of two things. That after all these years at City Hall they have suddenly changed. Or that after all these years they can suddenly deliver. Scarborough has heard both before.”
Alexander made the comment following the release of what he called a comprehensive plan to confront hate in Toronto amid a rise in antisemitic crimes in the city in recent years.
His plan includes the creation of a mayor’s steering group on combatting hate and an initiative to work with “university and other community leaders to ensure Jewish students feel safe on all Toronto campuses.”
With files from Joshua Freeman and Jermaine Wilson
