kd86
New Member
Shame on the mayor of Oshawa aka " the SHAWA". no wounder why the city is going down the toilet he could at least advocate the money be spent on needed transit in Oshawa and Durham Region as whole.
|
|
|
Transit City Plan
- Thread starter 299 bloor call control.
- Start date
nfitz
Superstar
Seems no worse than the Mayor of Toronto trying to divert funds from York's BRT to Toronto's subway, or the letter the Mayor of Mississauga wrote to the province asking the money for the Sheppard LRT be used to build LRT on Hurontario.
Electrify
Senior Member
The eastern extension is to be run by the province exclusively, rather than a P3 like the rest of the route.
nfitz
Superstar
Will it be tolled?
k10ery
Senior Member
Do you really need to ask? 
Yes.
^In fact, it *is* a P3, but the government plans to keep control of pricing this time.
Yes.^In fact, it *is* a P3, but the government plans to keep control of pricing this time.
Dan416
Senior Member
Do you really need to ask?
^In fact, it *is* a P3, but the government plans to keep control of pricing this time.
AFAIK the government will maintain ownership this time. Er, wait, nevermind, they still "own" the entire 407 anyway.
It kinda is worse than that. At least those mayors were advocating transit money for one city be spent on transit projects in another. This is transit money from one city being spent on a highway project in another. At least under those other plans it would have still resulted in transit being built somewhere.
GraphicMatt
Looking forward to a FRESH START for Toronto
It's a false equivalence either way. Ford never knowingly tried to divert funds from York to Toronto. He was just ignorant. Mississauga's letter was more of a "Well, if Toronto's going to dick around and argue and do nothing, we're happy to take that money and build LRT!"
The scary part is that the Ontario PCs seem to be pushing for the 407 as a key election issue. The bulk of Toronto's transit money doesn't kick in until after 2015. A Hudak win in the fall could absolutely cause a change of course.
The scary part is that the Ontario PCs seem to be pushing for the 407 as a key election issue. The bulk of Toronto's transit money doesn't kick in until after 2015. A Hudak win in the fall could absolutely cause a change of course.
nfitz
Superstar
The campaign wasn't ignorant, Kouvalis made it clear during the election campaign that they thought they could get the money from VIVA - http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/09/08/15278281.html
The bulk may not kick in until after 2015, but much of that money is for the Scarborough RT and Eglinton Crosstown. If we have a serious construction start on the Eglinton Crosstown before the next provincial election it will be hard to derail. And something has to happen to the SRT, one way or another.
Given how much the subway and transit have been an issue in Toronto, and with the province over the last 2-3 years, it seems hard to believe that Hudak will be able to get through the election without making some kind of promise on the issue.
At the same time though, Hudak could complete the 407 extension without any cost to the budget. If the Tories use the same funding techniques they used to build the original 407, it won't cost anything - they may even make money off of it again - though with the much lower traffic volumes, it may be tougher to make a profit.
k10ery
Senior Member
Nerd alert: accounting concepts explained in this post.
Government accounting principles have changed since 1995, and it is no longer possible to use the proceeds of an asset sale to hide a deficit on the provincial budget. So hopefuly we will never see shenanigans like the shameful 407 privatization again.
Even though infrastructure capital projects don't affect the deficit very much anymore, they do inctrease the province's net debt, and McGuinty has started to worry about net debt, basically because Bay Street types are telling him to. That's why the funding for TC projects got deferred in the last budget, even though it does not help the deficit one iota.
Whether the project is on-budget like TC, or a P3 like 407, infrastructure costs affect the budget in pretty much the same way. If Hudak wants to divert TC funds, he's going to have to find another reason.
Because it will:
a) Make people safer
b) lower taxes
c) create jobs
Use any of those 3 in any combination you like, and you will find the answer to virtually any Conservative policy decision.
k10ery
Senior Member
The accountants come down in favor of Transit City not subway.
This is a wrinkle I had not thought of.
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/adam-radwanski/mcguinty-faces-tough-choices-in-bid-to-keep-rob-ford-happy/article1871452/?service=mobile
This is a wrinkle I had not thought of.
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/adam-radwanski/mcguinty-faces-tough-choices-in-bid-to-keep-rob-ford-happy/article1871452/?service=mobile
jeffreym
Active Member
I'd wondered about that... I'd actually thought that it wasn't even an option to not own the lines since of accounting issues.
Ed Drass
Active Member
Here's the conventional page, with 29 comments so far:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...in-bid-to-keep-rob-ford-happy/article1871452/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...in-bid-to-keep-rob-ford-happy/article1871452/
Voltz
Senior Member
Not sure how important it is for McGuinty to keep Ford happy, I don't see Toronto ridings falling en masse to the Tories.