Keep in mind, that this was a Liberal proposal, that wasn't intended to screw Toronto. I suspect what is happening here, is that senior bureaucrats have simply pushed ahead with it, and their political taskmasters are too ignorant to realize the implications.
Even when the Liberals made the same proposal, I was 100% against it, because it would only be a matter of time before a new Ontario government used that power to actively screw Toronto.
Ontario governments have been, at best, apathetic towards Toronto, and at worst, activity hostile towards Torotonains and their political opinions. We all saw what the Harris government did to Toronto, GO Transit and transit in general in the 1990s, and we see the new PC government acting with the exact same brand of hostility today. Why anyone would trust these Provincial institutions to do right by Torotonians is beyond me. The Government of Ontario will always do what's best for their own political fortunes.
What's best for Ontario politicians is not necessarily what's best for Toronto. And of course, we now see ministers openly musing about extending the subway to Pickering! The Government of Ontario is no friend of Toronto, thats for sure.
And it's not as if Toronto has been perfect with regards to management of transportation issues, but if we're going to get screwed, I'd rather us screw ourselves, than our provincial overlords. At least Torontonians can appeal to Council to change their decisions. But Torotonians are powerless to fight against Queen's Park: we're just 2.8 Million of 14 Million Ontarians, living in a constitutional structure that forever enslaves Toronto to the whims of our Queen's Park masters.
I don't think it speeds up subway expansion either - I think it slows it down by years. The same way that uploading slowed down Line 5 through 7 construction. The only reason they got shovels in the ground on Line 5 early, is that TTC had already prepared the contract and tender for the tunelling contracts ... which as you'll recall weren't done either as a PPP, DBMO, or even a DBM! They were simple and traditional tunnelling contracts similar to the Line 1 extension to Vaughan Centre.
As I've mentioned before, we're wasting valuable time reorganizing the organizational structure of the TTC. That's time that could be spent advancing projects that'll actually help people get around, like the Relief Line. All this effort reorganizing the subway will not help anyone get to work any faster. And of course, when the dust settles, I think we'll find that Metrolinx's procurement processes aren't any better than the TTC. In fact, the Auditor General just released a report revealing how shoddy Metrolinx's procurement work for the ECLRT has been. Metrolinx is adding layers upon layers of bureaucracy, but I've yet to see any solid indication that they're any better at managing this stuff than the TTC.
I think this will die quickly, when (or perhaps if, given the clear lack of reading ability at the top) the Tories realise the implications. There's no way that this doesn't increase provincial government spending, even if Toronto still holds all the debt.
Yes, I really hope you're right about this.
