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Toronto Eglinton Line 5 | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | Arcadis

Voltz said:
I would suggest raising the eastbound lanes above the intersection, with a bridge reaching across the LRT and westbound lanes to Leslie.
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Well, this is the smartest and easiest solution I've heard in a decade, that doesn't penalize the people living on Leslie, because of idiot politicians' decisions in the past. Thank you!

The EB to NB and SB to WB movements are the most important. SB to EB will find another way.
 
Voltz said:
I would suggest raising the eastbound lanes above the intersection, with a bridge reaching across the LRT and westbound lanes to Leslie.
Click to expand...
Mind_the_gap said:
Well, this is the smartest and easiest solution I've heard in a decade, that doesn't penalize the people living on Leslie, because of idiot politicians' decisions in the past. Thank you!

The EB to NB and SB to WB movements are the most important. SB to EB will find another way.
Click to expand...

Building an elevated roadway is not easy anywhere, and certainly not in our city. It would mean another five years of road closures and construction.

There is an easy solution for the EB to NB car traffic, in case the NB left turns at Leslie are disallowed: Enable eastbound-to-westbound U-turn on Eglinton at Palmateer Rd.
 
Hope they are practising dealing with snow today….but really why open it until you can be assured that it will operate without snow day interruptions as an added complication. Maybe Carney should be asking the Chinese for transit and high speed rail advice in exchange for canola….
 
Jm gravel said:
Hope they are practising dealing with snow today….but really why open it until you can be assured that it will operate without snow day interruptions as an added complication. Maybe Carney should be asking the Chinese for transit and high speed rail advice in exchange for canola….
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Removing unions, labor protection, minimum wages, social welfare, public health care....
 
hw621 said:
Removing unions, labor protection, minimum wages, social welfare, public health care....
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For China: practically non-existent to mixed on the first three by Canadian standards. But you're definitely wrong on the last two.

Believe it or not, an ostensibly socialist state does have social welfare and public health care. I cannot comment on the former's effectiveness from personal experience. But I anecdotally experienced publicly funded healthcare as being quick and efficient, even in poor third-tier cities. Without OHIP-equivalent, the uninsured have to pay a nominal fee of like $20-100 CAD just to get a specialist appointment though. Doesn't include cost of tests and drugs. All depends on the localized cost-of-living.
 
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urbanclient said:
For China: practically non-existent to mixed on the first three by Canadian standards. But you're definitely wrong on the last two.

Believe it or not, an ostensibly socialist state does have social welfare and public health care. I cannot comment on the former's effectiveness from personal experience. But I anecdotally experienced publicly funded healthcare as being quick and efficient, even in poor third-tier cities. Without OHIP-equivalent, the uninsured have to pay a nominal fee of like $20-100 CAD just to get a specialist appointment though. Doesn't include cost of tests and drugs. All depends on the localized cost-of-living.
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Social welfare protections and public health care are effectively absent for the majority of the labor force drawn from the countryside. I am originally from there, and I understand this system from the inside. These workers exist largely outside formal social safety nets, with limited access to medical care, pensions, unemployment insurance, or meaningful labor protections. Their vulnerability is not incidental; it is structural.

This labor force works relentlessly for minimal pay and marginal benefits, sustaining long hours under conditions that would be unacceptable in most developed economies. They are the ones who deliver the output, power the factories, and enable low-cost production at scale, yet they have little voice and no leverage. Their grievances rarely surface, and when they do, they are seldom heard. The system depends on their invisibility as much as on their labor.

No country or company operating within a regulated environment can genuinely compete with this business model. It is not a level playing field. The cost advantage is built on the systematic exclusion of worker welfare, the externalization of social costs, and the suppression of labor rights. Framing this as simple efficiency or competitiveness ignores the fundamental imbalance at its core.
 
hw621 said:
Social welfare protections and public health care are effectively absent for the majority of the labor force drawn from the countryside. I am originally from there, and I understand this system from the inside. These workers exist largely outside formal social safety nets, with limited access to medical care, pensions, unemployment insurance, or meaningful labor protections. Their vulnerability is not incidental; it is structural.

This labor force works relentlessly for minimal pay and marginal benefits, sustaining long hours under conditions that would be unacceptable in most developed economies. They are the ones who deliver the output, power the factories, and enable low-cost production at scale, yet they have little voice and no leverage. Their grievances rarely surface, and when they do, they are seldom heard. The system depends on their invisibility as much as on their labor.

No country or company operating within a regulated environment can genuinely compete with this business model. It is not a level playing field. The cost advantage is built on the systematic exclusion of worker welfare, the externalization of social costs, and the suppression of labor rights. Framing this as simple efficiency or competitiveness ignores the fundamental imbalance at its core.
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When you contextualize it like this, I don't disagree. The original blanket statement lacks nuance though, maybe I'm just being pedantic. In my opinion, if you can afford the nominal fee of 10s to 100s of RMB to see a non-ER hospitalist or specialist in China, you'd almost certainly be seen sooner than you would waiting in an ER in Canada. I'm sure there are plenty of exploited workers without hukou in the city that they live and work in. But even then, the cost of healthcare is less of a barrier, it's the fact they can't get a day off to actually see a doctor. Social welfare does exist, but yes if you're a factory worker originally from the countryside and not a public servant or in a state-owned enterprise etc. the welfare can suck.

And yes, there is no way Canada can compete with China on nominal cost for infrastructure projects, but Canada sure as heck can learn from best practices in China. That's what @Jm gravel and others like myself hope Canada would do.

China is clearly the world leader in metro and HSR, and it's not purely because they can exploit a very large underclass. Sydney Metro is mostly done by construction companies ultimately owned by the Chinese government, using local Australian labour. Much better outcomes than what we've seen in Toronto in the last 3 decades. Competent, world-class project management goes a long way.
 
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