Ford is idiot, plain and simple, he is selling a bill of goods to anti Miller/Lastman voters. Toronto needs a non-partisan leadership, not petty muling children. Anyway, on the topic of transit...
I'm all for increasing Toronto's transit, and I do think that subways should be included in any plans; however, LRTs are needed in areas that do not have enough ridership for regular subways but more riders than regular surface transit can handle.
It's simple, there are many forms of transit vehicles, Buses (including trolley buses), "Streetcars"/"Trams" (Light Rail), ART (Medium Rail), and Subways (Heavy Rail); each have their own start-up cost, like construction, and a continuing maintaining cost. The problem even before the "down turning" economy is what money is in the war chest so to speak.
Here is how I see it:
Spadina-University Subway extended Vaughn
Yonge Subway extended to Newmarket
Eglinton: Heavy rail (underground)
Sheppard: Heavy rail (underground)
Finch: Medium rail (ROW, underground or not)
Steeles: Medium rail (convertible to heavy rail n the future)
Jane: Medium rail (ROW, underground or not)
Donmills: Medium rail (ROW, underground or not)
Kennedy: Light rail
Queen: Medium rail (ROW, underground or not)
Rathurn: Light rail (ROW, underground or not)
Scarbourgh RT: Converted to Heavy rail and extend it to Steeles
Kingston-Malvern: Light rail (ROW, underground or not)
St. Clair: Light rail (ROW, underground or not)
Markam: Light rail (ROW, underground or not)
and...
Convert all current bus routes to trolley buses, BRTs where available.