I've tried very hard to appreciate Mr. Tory's leadership, but at this point I can't defend him anymore. Tory's transit plans for our city are so much more wasteful than anything we've seen since amalgamation, and yes, that includes the Ford years.
Starting with SmartTrack, Mr Tory is supporting a $700 Million to $1 Billion plan that'll move only 14,000 riders per day. That's lower ridership than 40 TTC bus routes, and about 1/4 the ridership of the Sheppard Subway. In terms of dollar per rider, this SmartTrack proposal is by far the most wasteful serious proposal we've seen in this city, including the Sheppard Subway. And we don't even know what kind of operational subsidies this thing will require.
And then there's the Scarborough Subway. The original proposal was questionable enough, but Tory's insistence on supporting it, even as anticipated ridership has halved to 7,000 per peak hour and cost increased by 50% to $3.1 Billion is indefensible. This is far worse value for money than the original proposal Ford supported (and I'm no fan of that plan or Ford)
Both SmartTrack and the 1-stop Scarborough Subway are far more wasteful than any serious transit proposals we've seen in our city. Tory is far too eager to burn our money.
Furthermore, Tory has done nothing to address Toronto's budgetary issues; he's just repeated Ford's platitudes about finding efficiencies. These platitudes may make for a nice sound bite, but they're no way to budget.
I no longer have any faith in Tory to be a good fiscal steward for our city. He needs to be defeated in 2018.