Government documents obtained by Global News show information about the rising costs of Toronto's new subway line was labelled 'contentious' and withheld from publication.
globalnews.ca
Global news is continuing on this tirade that the OL Is wildly over budget - it simply isn't.
This article they at least acknowledge that the $19 billion figure includes operating costs, though still conflate it as budget overruns. Not sure how that logic is working, as the article clearly mentions that the $19 billion includes 30 years of operating the line while the original $10.9 billion figure did not, nor do any major infrastructure projects typically include operating costs in their construction budgets..
The way things are tracking right now, the OL will have a capital cost of between $11 and $13 billion, depending on where the last contracts land. That's indeed over the $10.9 billion original stated budget, but a much more marginal increase vs. the 70% they are claiming.
The OL is likely over the original budget, but that original budget was prepared before the 30% runup in construction costs through the pandemic. I don't think any politician is to blame for that, and it is most certainly not 70% over budget.