If I'm translating the Political speak correctly I believe he said:
"We have clearly been backed into a corner with the DRL and will be saving any funding announcements closer to election time where it will have the most meaningful impact on voters. By that time the rest of the GTA will be content with the promises we have made to them and wont get upset with the magnitude of investment we will be making and have been avoiding in Toronto"
I don't think QP have been backed into a corner at all on this. In fact they are *avoiding* being backed into a corner.
I'm not overly happy with two of the links I provided in the last post, the Pest and Stun tend to be knee-jerk on these issues, but Selley of the Pest put it well with this:
Still, the problem remains: Not without cause, the TTC has a lousy reputation as a deliverer of on-time, on-budget projects. And as Mayor John Tory has often observed, that reputation is a significant obstacle for would-be city builders to overcome: Metro Vancouver’s referendum on a $7.5-billion suite of transportation projects failed in large part because TransLink, the regional authority, suffered from similar criticisms.
Asked how we might avoid trust-eroding sticker shocks like this in the future, Byford pointed to the multiple-contractor “design-bid-build” model the TTC adopted for the TYYSE, as opposed to the “design-build” option it rejected. “Design-build buys you that certainty because any cost overrun would typically be at the risk of the contractor,” he said. “The balance, though, is that you often pay extra to get that certainty.”
http://news.nationalpost.com/toront...y-extension-a-classic-toronto-transit-screwup
And that's exactly the same conundrum QP would find itself in again by blindly funding the City for the Relief Line. I'm as abject a critic as anyone on Il Duce, but he's got this one right. DIY! And so have the Feds, they have the same concern. Even though TTC planning is out of the picture, and City Planning is in, the liability is still off-loaded to the Province and Feds.
Here's the political lay of the land on this:
Province funds study, Feds kick in too, no matter who builds this or how it's funded, that work has to be done, even if it has faults or biases. On the basis of that study, options present themselves, one of which is 'do another study to hone in on what the previous one didn't do'. Or even before the study is finished, QP can start a parallel one. In the big picture of investment, $150M+ is a drop in the bucket, but even half finished, it could/would be enough for QP to 'go shopping'. And that just might happen before the next Ont election.
The more Tory becomes incessant tilting at windmills, the less the turbine produces...and the wires are disconnected at the other end.
That's what's happening now, and every time it does, Wynne et al look like they're 'standing up to Toronto'. Think how this is looking in the 905 and 519 region.
Tory, the one who claims loudest to being a 'businessman' is woefully inept at being one. I could propose a number of options for him to take, but alas, some would consider that outside the remit of this string.