Provincial officials ready to go ahead with transit expansion in the city

TORONTO, Ont. – Now that Toronto’s city council has decided what transit expansion will look like in the city, provincial officials say they are ready to move forward with the plan.

With $8.4 billion in provincial funding on the table, Transportation Minister Bob Chiarelli says the the province is ready to act on council’s vote to construct a light-rail transit system along Sheppard Avenue East.

Chiarelli, who is no stranger to municipal politics, after having spent almost ten years as mayor of Ottawa, had several things to say about the decision.

“It’s council that rules, a mayor has a lot of influence but a mayor has one vote, and we learn that very early in the mayoring business,” Chiarelli said.

He adds that there will not be any further council resolutions required to implement what was passed as City Hall yesterday.

“It would be nice to have the mayor’s support as well as city council, but city council speaks for the people of Toronto by its majority vote.”

While he couldn’t speculate on actual figures, Chiarelli did say that the delay in getting a plan passed by council will likely end up adding to the overall cost of construction.

“There was an opportunity to have it taken place earlier, but either the mayor or council didn’t choose to bring the condition of council approval sooner to city council, but they’ve made a decision, I would say just in time,” Chiarelli said.

Chiarelli added that we can’t lose sight of the fact that subways are being built in Toronto, with construction already underway on the York-Spadina extension.