I tend to disagree with a lot of you on the Sheppard Line.
Come hell or high water, ford will make sure that Eglinton comes in under budget {which in Toronto would bee a novelty} whether that be by getting the feds involved, creating some form of PPP, elevating part of the corridor on Eglinton itself, fewer stations etc. That will leave him the extra $650 million McGuinty has stated he could have for Sheppard and with the already commited $350 million from the feds for the Sheppard line, that leaves him $1.1 billion. Even if he only gets the private sector to put in 10% that means he could atleast build the Spadina to Yonge section of the line.
The idea of getting the private sector to chip in $2 billion is impossible but I think that section is very realistic and will go ahead.
The Sheppard line as Ford has proposed it has so many stumbling blocks in front of it, even getting it to tender would be a miracle. Let's list them off (I'm trying my best to keep them in order):
1) Ford needs approval from Council to even start an actual design study on the line (or to update the existing study).
2) If that comes, he would then need to draft a business case as to how the private sector funding is going to come about.
3) He will then need to go back to council to get approval for the EA.
4) Once the EA is complete, he will need to sit and wait until the budget for the Eglinton line comes in, something that likely won't happen until well after his 1st term is expired. Without that, he doesn't even know how much government money he has to work with.
5) He will then likely need to come up with additional funding sources, because the leftovers from Eglinton and the small amount that the private sector is likely to throw in won't even come close to covering the project cost.
Aaaand 6) Steps 3-5 are predicated on the assumption that Ford wins a 2nd term.
So as you can see, in order to get this project to even the pre-construction phase, he will need to get approval from Council at least twice, AND win a 2nd term. Neither of which at this point are looking likely.
Conclusion: Ain't gonna happen.