That is very true. I think it would almost be better if these projects continued through the election as separate projects, rather than as one "plan". People hear "$8.15 billion transit plan" and they freak out. The Eglinton line has by far the highest degree of city-wide support. Trumpet that one, and let whatever other projects you need to get done slip in through the back door. Eglinton is going to be very hard to refute, even at the Provincial level. The best hope McGuinty has of keeping transit moving in Toronto is to stop referring to the whole transit plan, and just harp on Eglinton as much as he can. I want Finch West to keep going forward, but let's face it, if it gets too high of an exposure, it'll become a political target.
In Ottawa, the West LRT extension planning is already underway (public consultations held late last year, alignment expected to be announced middle of this year), yet the majority of people don't even know it's coming. Why? Because everyone is so focused on the tunnel. The tunnel has been the lightning rod for everything transit-related in Ottawa. Yet since the tunnel was announced, several smaller transit expansion projects have flown completely under the public's radar, including the west extension (which by the way, if current timelines hold true, will likely be open only a couple of years after the tunnel phase).
It's a double-edged sword though. If your lightning rod isn't able to hold up to uninformed public scrutiny, the whole plan falls apart. However, if it's able to withstand that, we'll be able to get the ball rolling on a lot of smaller transit projects, and even some medium-sized ones like the FWLRT, all because people (and the media) are paying attention to Eglinton, and only Eglinton.