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SmartTrack (Proposed)

Tuscani01 said:
So its up to $2.6 Billion being dedicated to Smart Track, once a formal application has been received and approved, no money available until 2019. Nothing more than an election promise and photo op.

In that case, Harper should've also announced $4 billion towards the DRL for 2025, $10 Billion for a high speed rail project between Ontario and Quebec in 2030, and Maglev from PEI to Vancouver sometime in 2100.
Click to expand...
If Tory is stupid enough to support this, it will be him beginning to dig his own mayoralty grave. So essentially we'll never see this money start flowing because even if Harper does happen to get re-elected this year, we will definitely not be seeing him stick around until 2019. Another joke of a transit announcement made by Harper, carry on folks.
 
Tuscani01 said:
So its up to $2.6 Billion being dedicated to Smart Track, once a formal application has been received and approved, no money available until 2019. Nothing more than an election promise and photo op.

In that case, Harper should've also announced $4 billion towards the DRL for 2025, $10 Billion for a high speed rail project between Ontario and Quebec in 2030, and Maglev from PEI to Vancouver sometime in 2100.
Click to expand...

That's inline with my expectations. With luck, I am hoping he'd be out of the misery of being in the position having to make these awful decisions come Fall.

AoD
 
I like how this non-announcement is at a TTC facility, for a service that in its current half-baked plan runs 75% of its length on Metrolinx trackage. I'm going to get a scar from smacking my forehead so often.
 
Cynthia Mulligan just asked why Smart Track and not DRL?

Harper's response: It's far from the only public transit we are funding. The vision of this fund is for major regional transit that will serve many municipalities. Mayor Tory's project is more advanced in planning, while the other project, from what I understand, is not
 
I prefer this one from Steven Del Duca's Press Sec:
 

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Tuscani01 said:
Cynthia Mulligan just asked why Smart Track and not DRL?

Harper's response: It's far from the only public transit we are funding. The vision of this fund is for major regional transit that will serve many municipalities. Mayor Tory's project is more advanced in planning, while the other project, from what I understand, is not
Click to expand...

On top of that stupid "advanced in planning" quip, it sounds like an invitation to deamalgamate the city into little villages (codeword in govspeak- "communities")

AoD
 
My favorite part of the announcement was when he started listing the projects which his government made a major contribution to, naming projects that he funded 10 years ago because there has been no recent projects he's funded.
 
Yeah, apparently it's tres hip to make funding announcements that would see money flowing a full election cycle before it actually does.

AoD
 
Amare said:
If Tory is stupid enough to support this, it will be him beginning to dig his own mayoralty grave. So essentially we'll never see this money start flowing because even if Harper does happen to get re-elected this year, we will definitely not be seeing him stick around until 2019. Another joke of a transit announcement made by Harper, carry on folks.
Click to expand...
2019? Even if Harper were to be reelected this year, he'd likely bot be able to govern due to a NDP/LPC coalition. And even without a coalition, the government would almost certainly be defeated within a year.

This really is a worthless announcement.
 
Harper will either be defeated in October, or else he'll be hamstrung by a minority against a Liberal/NDP coalition. Either way, this particular bundle of cash isn't coming in reality any time soon.

That being said, this announcement does open up a conversation (maybe even expectations) of federal funding for SmartTrack/GO RER. And that's a conversation that is definitely not a bad one to have.
 
I kind of feel like I was just Rick Rolled.

So ... in the lead up to an October Election, Harper announces funding that won't come into effect until another pre-election season?

This government is a complete joke, and needs to fall.
 
Actually I think if we take the numbers quoted in this non-announcement announcement and use them for further discussion about federal funding, or if we even consider that politicians have decided ST is in an apparent "advanced stage" of planning relative to the DRL, then we set two very dangerous precedents.

1) That the PM of this country can swoop in, wave a magic wand, and decide what transit to build, regardless of whatever is going on with the nuts-and-bolts planning process, which has barely begun let alone decided on ST as a worthwhile plan,
and
2) That our votes can be bought by shiny toys waved in front of us in election season.

Of course it's not like these precedents haven't been set already, but why extend them? Why continue to give politicians this power over transit?

This "announcement" should be completely ignored like the waste of airtime it is.

We need to take the power away from politicians.

Unfortunately the media doesn't grasp that they are perpetuating this problem by spreading this "news" around.
 
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