As SmartTrack transit costs balloon, Toronto to ask province to increase its share of funding | CBC News

Toronto city council has decided to ask the Ontario government to look at ways to fund what remains of a transit project first pitched by former mayor John Tory.

The SmartTrack stations program, which was the centrepiece of Tory’s 2014 mayoral campaign, initially promised the construction of 22 stations on existing GO Transit rail corridors by 2021. 

In the past decade, council has whittled the transit project down to five transit stations along three GO rail corridors: East Harbour, Bloor-Lansdowne, St. Clair-Old Weston, King-Liberty and Finch-Kennedy.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow told reporters on Wednesday that the cost of the project is rising.

“The costs have gone up quite a bit, and we can’t go beyond that budget envelope because we just can’t afford it,” Chow said. “We have limited funds. It’s not my style to spend money we don’t have.”

At its Wednesday meeting, after much debate, council voted in favour of a staff recommendation that the city make three stations a priority — East Harbour, Bloor-Lansdowne and St. Clair-Old Weston — and that the province find ways to fund the remaining two stations — King-Liberty and Finch-Kennedy — at no cost to the city.

The initial cost of the project for 22 stations was $8 billion, city staff told council. The current budget for the project is $1.689 billion, staff said in a report. Of that, $878 million will come from the city, $585 million from the federal government and $226 million from the Ontario government.

The city manager will therefore ask the province to consider increasing its contribution to the SmartTrack transit project to match or exceed the contribution being made by the city to ensure that the remaining two stations are built. A motion by Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie, passed by council, says the province could explore “funding opportunities” with the federal government.

McKelvie said she is disappointed with the way the project has been managed and will ask for a third-party review of the costs and cost escalations.

‘The worst deal possible,’ one councillor says

Several councillors expressed disappointment with the project as it was initially envisioned by Tory, and the fact that it is still largely in the design stage even though it was proposed 10 years ago. A SmartTrack technical program update provided to council indicates that early work has been completed at each of the five stations. 

Coun. Alejandra Bravo, who represents Davenport, Ward 9, said city council doesn’t have transparency when it comes to the full cost of the transit project.

“This is the worst deal possible. This is not SmartTrack. PastTrack is what one person suggested, but I think it’s time that we face that this is a failure that has had real material consequences,” Bravo said.

Coun. Ausma Malik, who represents Spadina-Fort York, Ward 10, said council needs to understand that the project is a provincial project that improves GO Transit lines.

“We have to also be very clear that our previous mayor locked us into this bad deal, paying for more than half of the costs of a provincial project of transit infrastructure that we will neither own nor operate,” Malik said.

Experts should plan transit projects with community input, according to Coun. Jamaal Myers, who represents Scarborough North, Ward 23. 

“This is Exhibit A as to why politicians should not plan transit expansions,” Myers said.

‘Not the best deal for the city,’ another councillor says

Coun. Josh Matlow, who represents Toronto-St. Paul’s, Ward 12, has been a frequent critic of SmartTrack.

Earlier on Wednesday, Matlow told reporters that the city is on the hook for nearly $900 million for this project at a time when it desperately needs the cash to maintain other parts of its transit system.

“It is such a betrayal of Torontonians’ trust. SmartTrack has proven itself to be nothing more than a dishonest branding exercise in John Tory’s 2014 mayoral campaign,” Matlow said.

Coun. Paula Fletcher, who represents Toronto-Danforth, Ward 14, said she thinks the return on the transit project diminishes with each passing year. Her ward includes the proposed East Harbour station.

“I think this got a little out of control. We had a lot of stations to start with. We had a lot of money invested to start with. Now we have less stations than we started with and more investment than we started with.

“It’s not the best deal for the city.”