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Metrolinx: Other Items (catch all)

innsertnamehere said:
Thanks for this. Lots of interesting stuff. I wasn't aware of any parking expansion plans for Whitby GO, I wonder exactly what that entails. It's listed as between $4 and $20 million, so it's can't be a very large garage. I wonder if it'll be an addition on the existing garage or a new structure.

Good to see Aldershot's parking expansion finally move forward, that's been languishing in procurement for a while now.

Still no confederation GO listed though - hopefully that is just because procurement officially began last year and they still expect construction to start soon.

I feel like GO expansion projects are finally reaching the construction stage in large numbers though so it's still exciting to see all these projects move forward on timeframes that are actually quite soon.
Click to expand...
Re: Confederation GO, I saw this on Twitter recently. Hopefully the contract is awarded soon.
https://twitter.com/x/status/1430154245286895616
 
That's the same non answer they have been giving since it entered procurement a year and a half ago. It's just odd since these things typically start construction a few months after going to tender and here we are, 16 months later and not a peep. But yea, hopefully whatever the issue is, it's resolved soon and work can get underway.
 
innsertnamehere said:
That's the same non answer they have been giving since it entered procurement a year and a half ago. It's just odd since these things typically start construction a few months after going to tender and here we are, 16 months later and not a peep. But yea, hopefully whatever the issue is, it's resolved soon and work can get underway.
Click to expand...
Why build something at great cost only to have it sitting idle for X time when there is no service on the line nor riders to use it in the first place? Even after it built, someone has to be paying the bills to keep the lights on, heat the place, maintain it and the list goes on even with no one using it.
 
Aug 29
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Secret letters detail Ford government efforts to control Ontario’s supposedly arm’s-length transit agency​


Months after taking office in 2018, the Ontario PC government issued a written directive to Metrolinx prohibiting the supposedly arm’s-length transit agency from communicating with the public about key issues without ministry approval.

The letter was one of nine confidential ministerial directives sent to Metrolinx over the first 21 months of the Progressive Conservatives’ mandate. In them, the provincial government also gave direction to the agency about expensive and politically charged projects like a new Woodbine GO station, Toronto subways and the Hurontario LRT.

Experts and the official opposition say the letters, which have not previously been made public but were obtained by the Star through a freedom of information request, raise concerns the Doug Ford PCs are increasingly treating the powerful organization as an arm of government while presenting its decisions as independent.

Matti Siemiatycki, an associate professor in the University of Toronto’s geography and planning department who has studied transit governance, said that while concerns about Metrolinx’s independence predate the current provincial government, the letters indicate the degree to which “the province is starting to bring Metrolinx closer under (its) control,” to the extent that the Crown corporation is “increasingly an extended division of the ministry of transportation.”

“The initial view that Metrolinx was going to be an independent agency, arm’s-length from government, providing advice ... that line is really now starting to be blurred,” he said.

Christina Salituro, a spokesperson for Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney, framed the letters as an appropriate tool for the government to exercise its legislative role overseeing Metrolinx.

In an email, Salituro said Mulroney and previous Ontario PC transportation ministers issued the directives “to ensure that the agency’s actions are aligned with the government’s priorities,” and they are “one way that we can ensure” Metrolinx projects “use taxpayer dollars appropriately.”

Metrolinx was created in 2006 by the previous Ontario Liberal government as an arm’s-length agency to co-ordinate transit planning in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. It’s responsible for the GO Transit network, the Presto fare card system and planning major projects like the Ontario Line and Scarborough subway extension.

The legislation that created the organization stipulates transportation ministers can issue written directives for the agency to carry out.

After taking office in June 2018, the Ontario PC government accelerated the use of the directives. Between November 2018 and November 2019, Progressive Conservative transportation ministers issued nine letters, compared to only three between August 2017 and the end of the Liberals’ mandate, according to information provided to a Queen’s Park committee by Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster earlier this year.

The first letter, written Nov. 26, 2018, by then-transportation minister Jeff Yurek, outlined, among other directives, “changes to communications protocol” that were effective immediately. The new policy required “ministry approval of all public-facing communication” by the agency, except those relating day-to-day customer service issues, and required Metrolinx officials to receive government approval for any public speaking engagements.

The minister also took the unusual step of barring Metrolinx officials from meeting with members of the media. Such meetings are a common practice among officials and journalists.

“Media contact is to be limited to reactive responses to media inquiries approved by the ministry. There will be no informal meetings with media ... unless approved in advance by the ministry,” the letter stated.

Salituro, the ministry spokesperson, explained the protocol was necessary because “clear and consistent communication is vital to all major transportation projects and plans.”

Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins said the agency had a similar communications protocol under the previous Liberal government, and it “ensures we manage media questions in partnership with our government.” She noted that media requests about transit operations, such as those relating to GO Transit service, make up more than half of media requests to the agency, and don’t require approval from the ministry.

Asked whether the former Liberal government had a similar communications policy in place, a spokesperson for the Ontario Liberal Party said, “as with all government agencies there were regular touch points with the Ministry of Transportation officials and Metrolinx to ensure coordination, but to the best of our recollection no letter of direction was given to Metrolinx related to government control or approvals over agency communications.”

Siemiatycki said having the provincial government approve Metrolinx’s communications about transit planning and other important issues raises red flags. One of the agency’s most important roles is to evaluate plans for multi-billion-dollar transportation projects, and communicate the results to the public while also advising government.

With the ministry in charge of the agency’s communications, “from the public’s perspective, certainly it’s not clear whether Metrolinx is speaking or the ministry,” Siemiatycki warned.

Under the PCs’ media protocol, the public has no way of knowing whether Metrolinx’s statements about projects are based on its own independent analysis, or has been “politically approved,” Siemiatycki said.

“There needs to be transparency.”

On July 17, 2019, Yurek issued a letter about the Hurontario LRT, a $1.4 billion rail line planned for Mississauga and Brampton. Yurek wrote the government was reviewing spending on transportation projects, and it had approved the “de-scoping,” or scaling back, of the LRT.

The version of the letter provided to the Star by the ministry of transportation is partially redacted, but it shows the minister directed Metrolinx to eliminate the planned “loop” on the LRT’s route that would have taken the line around Square One Mall.

Metrolinx announced the decision to remove the loop two months later, prompting pushback from Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, who said that section was a “key component” of the LRT project and she would work to make sure it was included.

At the time, Metrolinx explicitly denied the government had directed the agency to find ways to scale back the LRT to reduce its costs, with a spokesperson for the organization telling the Star “this was a Metrolinx recommendation to get (the LRT) within the budget scope.”

Asked this month whether the provincial government directed Metrolinx to publicly take responsibility for removing the loop in order to shield Queen’s Park from criticism, Salituro said the agency “was directed to deliver the Hurontario LRT project within the approved project budget” and as work proceeded, Metrolinx recommended changes “to ensure that the project could be delivered within the budget.”

The government reviewed those recommendations and approved deleting the loop, and communicated that change in the letter of direction, she said.

Jessica Bell, transit critic for the Ontario NDP, said the Progressive Conservatives were trying to make Metrolinx the “fall guy” for a potentially unpopular decision....
 
TheTigerMaster said:

Secret letters detail Ford government efforts to control Ontario’s supposedly arm’s-length transit agency​


Months after taking office in 2018, the Ontario PC government issued a written directive to Metrolinx prohibiting the supposedly arm’s-length transit agency from communicating with the public about key issues without ministry approval.

The letter was one of nine confidential ministerial directives sent to Metrolinx over the first 21 months of the Progressive Conservatives’ mandate. In them, the provincial government also gave direction to the agency about expensive and politically charged projects like a new Woodbine GO station, Toronto subways and the Hurontario LRT.

Experts and the official opposition say the letters, which have not previously been made public but were obtained by the Star through a freedom of information request, raise concerns the Doug Ford PCs are increasingly treating the powerful organization as an arm of government while presenting its decisions as independent.

Matti Siemiatycki, an associate professor in the University of Toronto’s geography and planning department who has studied transit governance, said that while concerns about Metrolinx’s independence predate the current provincial government, the letters indicate the degree to which “the province is starting to bring Metrolinx closer under (its) control,” to the extent that the Crown corporation is “increasingly an extended division of the ministry of transportation.”

“The initial view that Metrolinx was going to be an independent agency, arm’s-length from government, providing advice ... that line is really now starting to be blurred,” he said.

Christina Salituro, a spokesperson for Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney, framed the letters as an appropriate tool for the government to exercise its legislative role overseeing Metrolinx.

In an email, Salituro said Mulroney and previous Ontario PC transportation ministers issued the directives “to ensure that the agency’s actions are aligned with the government’s priorities,” and they are “one way that we can ensure” Metrolinx projects “use taxpayer dollars appropriately.”

Metrolinx was created in 2006 by the previous Ontario Liberal government as an arm’s-length agency to co-ordinate transit planning in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. It’s responsible for the GO Transit network, the Presto fare card system and planning major projects like the Ontario Line and Scarborough subway extension.

The legislation that created the organization stipulates transportation ministers can issue written directives for the agency to carry out.

After taking office in June 2018, the Ontario PC government accelerated the use of the directives. Between November 2018 and November 2019, Progressive Conservative transportation ministers issued nine letters, compared to only three between August 2017 and the end of the Liberals’ mandate, according to information provided to a Queen’s Park committee by Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster earlier this year.

The first letter, written Nov. 26, 2018, by then-transportation minister Jeff Yurek, outlined, among other directives, “changes to communications protocol” that were effective immediately. The new policy required “ministry approval of all public-facing communication” by the agency, except those relating day-to-day customer service issues, and required Metrolinx officials to receive government approval for any public speaking engagements.

The minister also took the unusual step of barring Metrolinx officials from meeting with members of the media. Such meetings are a common practice among officials and journalists.

“Media contact is to be limited to reactive responses to media inquiries approved by the ministry. There will be no informal meetings with media ... unless approved in advance by the ministry,” the letter stated.

Salituro, the ministry spokesperson, explained the protocol was necessary because “clear and consistent communication is vital to all major transportation projects and plans.”

Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins said the agency had a similar communications protocol under the previous Liberal government, and it “ensures we manage media questions in partnership with our government.” She noted that media requests about transit operations, such as those relating to GO Transit service, make up more than half of media requests to the agency, and don’t require approval from the ministry.

Asked whether the former Liberal government had a similar communications policy in place, a spokesperson for the Ontario Liberal Party said, “as with all government agencies there were regular touch points with the Ministry of Transportation officials and Metrolinx to ensure coordination, but to the best of our recollection no letter of direction was given to Metrolinx related to government control or approvals over agency communications.”

Siemiatycki said having the provincial government approve Metrolinx’s communications about transit planning and other important issues raises red flags. One of the agency’s most important roles is to evaluate plans for multi-billion-dollar transportation projects, and communicate the results to the public while also advising government.

With the ministry in charge of the agency’s communications, “from the public’s perspective, certainly it’s not clear whether Metrolinx is speaking or the ministry,” Siemiatycki warned.

Under the PCs’ media protocol, the public has no way of knowing whether Metrolinx’s statements about projects are based on its own independent analysis, or has been “politically approved,” Siemiatycki said.

“There needs to be transparency.”

On July 17, 2019, Yurek issued a letter about the Hurontario LRT, a $1.4 billion rail line planned for Mississauga and Brampton. Yurek wrote the government was reviewing spending on transportation projects, and it had approved the “de-scoping,” or scaling back, of the LRT.

The version of the letter provided to the Star by the ministry of transportation is partially redacted, but it shows the minister directed Metrolinx to eliminate the planned “loop” on the LRT’s route that would have taken the line around Square One Mall.

Metrolinx announced the decision to remove the loop two months later, prompting pushback from Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, who said that section was a “key component” of the LRT project and she would work to make sure it was included.

At the time, Metrolinx explicitly denied the government had directed the agency to find ways to scale back the LRT to reduce its costs, with a spokesperson for the organization telling the Star “this was a Metrolinx recommendation to get (the LRT) within the budget scope.”

Asked this month whether the provincial government directed Metrolinx to publicly take responsibility for removing the loop in order to shield Queen’s Park from criticism, Salituro said the agency “was directed to deliver the Hurontario LRT project within the approved project budget” and as work proceeded, Metrolinx recommended changes “to ensure that the project could be delivered within the budget.”

The government reviewed those recommendations and approved deleting the loop, and communicated that change in the letter of direction, she said.

Jessica Bell, transit critic for the Ontario NDP, said the Progressive Conservatives were trying to make Metrolinx the “fall guy” for a potentially unpopular decision....
Click to expand...
The only reason for the Eglinton West LRT extension being underground in Etobicoke is because it would be near Doug Ford's home and neighbourhood (Eglinton & Kipling). Doug must not see the peasants as they pass him when he drives by himself in his gas-guzzling SUV.

The reason the Ontario Line will be on the surface or overhead in Riverdale & Thorncliffe is because it would not be in his neighbourhood.

Not very "arm's length" for this snake.
 
^The ban on ML communicating publicly is longstanding and originated when ML first initiated service to Niagara (and iirc post-GTS changes to Kitchener line schedules). ML had traditionally given its transit partners advance notice of changes in GO schedules, with the intent that these partners would have time to tweak connecting bus service to ensure connections. (It can take 30-60 days to change a bus schedule between figuring out the impact on schedules and headways,, and then posting for workers to bid on, etc)
Certain municipal transit partners saw a very valid need to communicate these changes publicly, so their customers would not miss the bus….and by doing that, they let the cat out of the bag about the start of certain new services.
The Liberal Transport Minister of the day consequently lost the opportunity to hold a photo op and take credit for these. The resulting hissy fit at QP has impacted ML, who for some time thereafter simply witheld information, leaving transit partners in the dark and as a result bus connections to GO Train service could only be aligned after new GO Train schedules were implemented.
More recently, they have worked out a protocol where individual transit agency employees sign confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, pinky-swearing that they won’t divulge any advance notices they are given, thereby keeping the Minister out in front of all changes, no matter how minor.
It is appalling and childish for our elected officials to place such a high premium - and force such dysfunctional work practices across the municipal transit industry - simply to aggrandise themselves, but that’s what the Liberals did. And Ford’s folks, knowing a good gig when they saw it, have maintained the practice.
Having said that, the Minister’s approval is required for many things under the Metrolinx Act - and always has been.

- Paul
 
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TheTigerMaster said:

Secret letters detail Ford government efforts to control Ontario’s supposedly arm’s-length transit agency​


Months after taking office in 2018, the Ontario PC government issued a written directive to Metrolinx prohibiting the supposedly arm’s-length transit agency from communicating with the public about key issues without ministry approval.

The letter was one of nine confidential ministerial directives sent to Metrolinx over the first 21 months of the Progressive Conservatives’ mandate. In them, the provincial government also gave direction to the agency about expensive and politically charged projects like a new Woodbine GO station, Toronto subways and the Hurontario LRT.

Experts and the official opposition say the letters, which have not previously been made public but were obtained by the Star through a freedom of information request, raise concerns the Doug Ford PCs are increasingly treating the powerful organization as an arm of government while presenting its decisions as independent.

Matti Siemiatycki, an associate professor in the University of Toronto’s geography and planning department who has studied transit governance, said that while concerns about Metrolinx’s independence predate the current provincial government, the letters indicate the degree to which “the province is starting to bring Metrolinx closer under (its) control,” to the extent that the Crown corporation is “increasingly an extended division of the ministry of transportation.”

“The initial view that Metrolinx was going to be an independent agency, arm’s-length from government, providing advice ... that line is really now starting to be blurred,” he said.

Christina Salituro, a spokesperson for Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney, framed the letters as an appropriate tool for the government to exercise its legislative role overseeing Metrolinx.

In an email, Salituro said Mulroney and previous Ontario PC transportation ministers issued the directives “to ensure that the agency’s actions are aligned with the government’s priorities,” and they are “one way that we can ensure” Metrolinx projects “use taxpayer dollars appropriately.”

Metrolinx was created in 2006 by the previous Ontario Liberal government as an arm’s-length agency to co-ordinate transit planning in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. It’s responsible for the GO Transit network, the Presto fare card system and planning major projects like the Ontario Line and Scarborough subway extension.

The legislation that created the organization stipulates transportation ministers can issue written directives for the agency to carry out.

After taking office in June 2018, the Ontario PC government accelerated the use of the directives. Between November 2018 and November 2019, Progressive Conservative transportation ministers issued nine letters, compared to only three between August 2017 and the end of the Liberals’ mandate, according to information provided to a Queen’s Park committee by Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster earlier this year.

The first letter, written Nov. 26, 2018, by then-transportation minister Jeff Yurek, outlined, among other directives, “changes to communications protocol” that were effective immediately. The new policy required “ministry approval of all public-facing communication” by the agency, except those relating day-to-day customer service issues, and required Metrolinx officials to receive government approval for any public speaking engagements.

The minister also took the unusual step of barring Metrolinx officials from meeting with members of the media. Such meetings are a common practice among officials and journalists.

“Media contact is to be limited to reactive responses to media inquiries approved by the ministry. There will be no informal meetings with media ... unless approved in advance by the ministry,” the letter stated.

Salituro, the ministry spokesperson, explained the protocol was necessary because “clear and consistent communication is vital to all major transportation projects and plans.”

Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins said the agency had a similar communications protocol under the previous Liberal government, and it “ensures we manage media questions in partnership with our government.” She noted that media requests about transit operations, such as those relating to GO Transit service, make up more than half of media requests to the agency, and don’t require approval from the ministry.

Asked whether the former Liberal government had a similar communications policy in place, a spokesperson for the Ontario Liberal Party said, “as with all government agencies there were regular touch points with the Ministry of Transportation officials and Metrolinx to ensure coordination, but to the best of our recollection no letter of direction was given to Metrolinx related to government control or approvals over agency communications.”

Siemiatycki said having the provincial government approve Metrolinx’s communications about transit planning and other important issues raises red flags. One of the agency’s most important roles is to evaluate plans for multi-billion-dollar transportation projects, and communicate the results to the public while also advising government.

With the ministry in charge of the agency’s communications, “from the public’s perspective, certainly it’s not clear whether Metrolinx is speaking or the ministry,” Siemiatycki warned.

Under the PCs’ media protocol, the public has no way of knowing whether Metrolinx’s statements about projects are based on its own independent analysis, or has been “politically approved,” Siemiatycki said.

“There needs to be transparency.”

On July 17, 2019, Yurek issued a letter about the Hurontario LRT, a $1.4 billion rail line planned for Mississauga and Brampton. Yurek wrote the government was reviewing spending on transportation projects, and it had approved the “de-scoping,” or scaling back, of the LRT.

The version of the letter provided to the Star by the ministry of transportation is partially redacted, but it shows the minister directed Metrolinx to eliminate the planned “loop” on the LRT’s route that would have taken the line around Square One Mall.

Metrolinx announced the decision to remove the loop two months later, prompting pushback from Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, who said that section was a “key component” of the LRT project and she would work to make sure it was included.

At the time, Metrolinx explicitly denied the government had directed the agency to find ways to scale back the LRT to reduce its costs, with a spokesperson for the organization telling the Star “this was a Metrolinx recommendation to get (the LRT) within the budget scope.”

Asked this month whether the provincial government directed Metrolinx to publicly take responsibility for removing the loop in order to shield Queen’s Park from criticism, Salituro said the agency “was directed to deliver the Hurontario LRT project within the approved project budget” and as work proceeded, Metrolinx recommended changes “to ensure that the project could be delivered within the budget.”

The government reviewed those recommendations and approved deleting the loop, and communicated that change in the letter of direction, she said.

Jessica Bell, transit critic for the Ontario NDP, said the Progressive Conservatives were trying to make Metrolinx the “fall guy” for a potentially unpopular decision....
Click to expand...
The only benefit I can see from this is projects will get "studied" faster and (hopefully) built faster.

Say what you want about politics screwing transit projects over, but I firmly belive that citizens are also part of the problem.
 
Having worked for the Ontario government for 31 years, this is nothing surprising. Message control, image management and vote counts have been raised (lowered) to a fine art. We often had to obtain ministry-level sign off on some of the most seemingly mundane matters. The difference between Crown and Crown corporation is largely organizational.

No doubt, with $478Mn out of their $566Mn coming from the province (2018-19 Annual Report, assuming including federal money), they would argue they have a controlling interest.
 
lenaitch said:
Having worked for the Ontario government for 31 years, this is nothing surprising. Message control, image management and vote counts have been raised (lowered) to a fine art. We often had to obtain ministry-level sign off on some of the most seemingly mundane matters. The difference between Crown and Crown corporation is largely organizational.

No doubt, with $478Mn out of their $566Mn coming from the province (2018-19 Annual Report, assuming including federal money), they would argue they have a controlling interest.
Click to expand...
Ministerial orders are a good thing. They make clear who is making the decision. As a side benefit, they protect the executive of provincial agencies from allegation that they have failed their fiduciary duty. A good example is the province’s implementation of discount fares/free rides for children - for ML to unilaterally forego revenue is arguably a fiduciary breach, as in theory they should be working to protect/improve revenue streams.

I know of a case some years back where the head of a provincial agency looked a Minister in the eye and said “put that in writing”, with a legal opinion backing them up, over that kind of proposed tradeoff against the agency’s best interests.

The issue is transparency. Ministerial orders need to be discoverable. If you can’t take the heat, don’t be pulling strings in the back channels.

- Paul
 
crs1026 said:
Ministerial orders are a good thing. They make clear who is making the decision. As a side benefit, they protect the executive of provincial agencies from allegation that they have failed their fiduciary duty. A good example is the province’s implementation of discount fares/free rides for children - for ML to unilaterally forego revenue is arguably a fiduciary breach, as in theory they should be working to protect/improve revenue streams.

I know of a case some years back where the head of a provincial agency looked a Minister in the eye and said “put that in writing”, with a legal opinion backing them up, over that kind of proposed tradeoff against the agency’s best interests.

The issue is transparency. Ministerial orders need to be discoverable. If you can’t take the heat, don’t be pulling strings in the back channels.

- Paul
Click to expand...
Yes, it is good to know who is making the decisions but the problem is that Metrolinx (and probably other government agencies) are often said to give independent/expert advice and if (when) the government tells them (informally) what advice they want it's all a sham. There should be a totally arms-length Provincial 'transit planning' group and an operating group that is similar to a regular Ministry. The problem now is Metrolinx pretends to be (and is said to be) both.
 
crs1026 said:
Ministerial orders are a good thing. They make clear who is making the decision. As a side benefit, they protect the executive of provincial agencies from allegation that they have failed their fiduciary duty. A good example is the province’s implementation of discount fares/free rides for children - for ML to unilaterally forego revenue is arguably a fiduciary breach, as in theory they should be working to protect/improve revenue streams.

I know of a case some years back where the head of a provincial agency looked a Minister in the eye and said “put that in writing”, with a legal opinion backing them up, over that kind of proposed tradeoff against the agency’s best interests.

The issue is transparency. Ministerial orders need to be discoverable. If you can’t take the heat, don’t be pulling strings in the back channels.

- Paul
Click to expand...
The main issue is not that someone is giving directions, it's that the direction is politically motivated, screw up plans, increase costs (from infrastructure inflation) and can tamper with the whole process. See: OL, EWLRT, YNSE.
 
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