innsertnamehere
Superstar
Yet she was the transportation minister that formulated the entire big move plan... There really couldn't be a better premeir for transit right now..
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Premier Kathleen Wynne and What Her Election Means for Transit
- Thread starter TheTigerMaster
- Start date
nfitz
Superstar
No, she didn't become the minister until January 2010. Jim Bradley was the minister from 2006 to 2010 when they formulate the Big Move.
Wynne was Minister when they delayed the LRT projects, and cut the piece of Eglinton from Jane to Pearson, Finch West from Finch West station to Finch station, the SRT from Sheppard to Malvern, and Sheppard East, east of the yard.
I agree.
blacktrojan3921
New Member
To be fair, she got the job the same time Ford got his job.
nfitz
Superstar
Uh, no ... she got it almost a year earlier in January 2010. She was the Transport Minister behind the LRT cuts that Miller fought against during 2010, long before Rob Ford became mayor on December 1, 2010.
Platform 27
Active Member
The "provincial LRT cuts" were a total fabrication. The province announced $9 billion in funding for LRT and Viva in 2009, the TTC seriously underestimated their costs and came back needing an extra $2.4 billion to cover the difference, and when no more free money appeared, rather than chip in from the City budget Miller chose to throw a tantrum.
nfitz
Superstar
Why are you trying to mislead everyone? The funding was stretched out for years extra, delaying projects significantly.
Platform 27
Active Member
I'd say treating the delays from July 2010 as one and the same as non-cut "cuts" from February 2010 is misleading.
nfitz
Superstar
What July 2010 delays? Metrolinx published the delayed schedule at least as early as May 2010. It all came out of the March 2010 budget
And what are the February 2010 non-cut "cuts" your talking about. I thought the reduced scope was also announced in May 2010.
It's the same May 2010 Metrolinx document that details both the reduced scope and implementation delay - http://www.metrolinx.com/en/docs/pdf/board_agenda/20100519/Five_in_Ten_Board_web.pdf
I'd say your attempt to turn it into two different events is misleading.
Platform 27
Active Member
Whoops, my mistake. It was May and not July.
They were two different events --- as that document makes clear, the decision to shorten the lines came in January-February (slides 5-7), and that had nothing to do with the stretched timelines, which came after the provincial budget (slides 8-12).
Miller went out of his way to try and claim that two separate changes, made months apart, were one and the same because it let him dodge the blame for having the first four Transit City lines go more than 25% over budget right out of the gate. It's my personal opinion that he made one of the dirtiest moves of his mayoralty by claiming that the lines were being shortened and stations were being removed by provincial cutbacks when the amount of provincial money was staying the same and it turned out the City had been asked to fund the overruns and they said "no."
To top it off, what really left a bad taste in my mouth was how Miller used his office to turn TTC platform announcements into a political soapbox. Could you imagine what the reaction would have been if Rob Ford had done the same, and every time you were waiting for a train 2 years ago you heard "I'm Rob Ford, and we're working hard to build subways subways subways, because the war on the car that those pinkoes wanted is over, folks."
My point is it's unfair to tar Kathleen Wynne as somehow being responsible for LRT "cuts". There's plenty of blame to go around.
nfitz
Superstar
Ah yes ... just weeks apart. Both coming out of provincial funding restraints. There's no reason that the province couldn't have simply funded the projects they'd originally agreed to, despite the price increases, and simply deferred the work for the Phase 2 stuff beyond the original timeframe.
Mere weeks apart, both coming out of provincial funding constraints. I wouldn't be surprised if they were both coming out of January 2010 discussions in the provincial government after Wynne took over ... and the expectation before then was that the province would simply foot the bill.
My gosh, if a bit of politics to benefit the citizens of Toronto is the dirtiest move of a mayoralty, then the guy must have been a saint! Compare to the tactics of the current incumbent designed to benefit his business, property, and family.
How can you not blame Wynne for the delays to the lines? Before Wynne, Sheppard would have opened in September 2013 - then it was 2015. Eglinton would have started opening in 2016 - then it became 2020. Finch West was to open in 2016, and Wynne changed it to 2019. The SRT was to open to open before the 2015 Pan-Am games - and then it became 2020 (though I admit they'd have had problems achieving this).
Ontario could just have easily have deferred what was deferred to Phase 2 until the 2015-2020 period when the funding could have been drawn from their new funding mechanisms. They didn't, and cut them - but far worse was the delay to these projects. Had the original schedule held, Ford wouldn't have been able to easily further delay the Sheppard East project, as it would have already been under construction.
I'm willing to let Wynne off the hook for some of the scope reductions - but the decisions of her ministry and party have delayed some of these projects for years ... putting Finch and Sheppard still at risk.
And yet I think she's by far the best choice for transit.
Platform 27
Active Member
There were 2.4 billion reasons.
If our standard for a "transit supportive" provincial government is one that will sign blank cheques to Toronto to build what they want at 100% provincial funding regardless of where the price tag goes, then we'll be waiting a very long time for one.
TOareaFan
Superstar
I have to apologize....I may have started something when all I was doing was finding a smile in the juxtaposition of a new Premier making transit/gridlock her first priority while, at the same time, stating that she will really miss being able to drive from home to QP.
I think the very fact that she has publicly stated that fighting gridlock is her priority makes her our best hope. To me it is very key that she did not say "getting people out of their cars"....or "getting people on trains".....or "promoting cycling"....or "building more lanes of roadway"....or "subways over streetcars {or the inverse}".........she said "fighting gridlock".....which indicates to me she is going to be not only aggressive on the file but also flexible enough to know that those two words do not necessarily lead to the same conclusion/action in every single location.
I think the very fact that she has publicly stated that fighting gridlock is her priority makes her our best hope. To me it is very key that she did not say "getting people out of their cars"....or "getting people on trains".....or "promoting cycling"....or "building more lanes of roadway"....or "subways over streetcars {or the inverse}".........she said "fighting gridlock".....which indicates to me she is going to be not only aggressive on the file but also flexible enough to know that those two words do not necessarily lead to the same conclusion/action in every single location.
nfitz
Superstar
Where was this quoted? The quote I saw, simply was about not being able to drive her own car anymore ... it didn't talk about when or where.
nfitz
Superstar
I really don't think we should be counting the 655 million ones that was to build the Finch East LRT from Yonge station to Don Mills station - that wasn't TTC's idea, or part of the original TTC estimate.
Blank cheque? What blank cheque? These lines are being constructed and owned by the province. The city isn't getting any cheques. The province has already indicated they are prepared to 100% fund these projects ... the only question is how much.
Perhaps if Rob Ford had kept his promise to take the money York was getting for VIVA and use it on the Toronto projects instead ....
TOareaFan
Superstar
Like I said...it was all a smiley humorous moment to me (so I was not "quoting" or attacking her in any way).....she came out swinging on gridlock (good thing) then in her first (or very early if not first) presser made a fuss (probably also a joking fuss) about not being able to drive....I found it funny...I posted it as a funny....I may even have included a little funny emoticon guy.....my follow up post above was to make it clear that it was meant lightheartedly and, yet, it is still being taken all too seriously.
So, to end this, I think from amongst the current political leaders she is the most likely to get something done on transit/gridlock (for the reasons I give above) (and I am, generally, a "tory") that said, I found that comment a bit funny. Hopefully, that is the end of it.