Tory says he needs Ford to explain what ‘uploading’ transit actually means

Mayor John Tory wants Premier Doug Ford to explained just what “upload” means when it comes to the province’s plan to take over control of the TTC subway system.

“My challenge at the moment is that I don’t know what uploading means,” Tory told the media on Friday.

“Uploading is something that (Ford) campaigned on and said he felt would be beneficial to the city of Toronto and that’s about what it consists of at the moment, that expression plus some indication that maybe it will help us finance the building of more transit faster.”

Tory said he feels understanding just what uploading means is “absolutely essential” before they decide to accept or reject the proposition, so he is willing to keep meeting with the province to discuss this plan further.

“I’ve already indicated, very clearly, my own view which is we shouldn’t accept any deal that isn’t fare and reasonable and beneficial for the transit riders, the employees and the taxpayers.”

During the spring election campaign, Ford promised to create a regional transportation system, and said uploading the responsibility for building and maintaining subway lines in Ontario would benefit the city.

Currently, Michael Lindsay, who was previously a vice-president at Infrastructure Ontario, is heading up a provincially appointed panel that is working on uploading the subway system.

Last month, Jeff Yurek, the province’s transportation minister, vowed to expand the TTC’s subway system into the suburbs once the responsibility of building subways is uploaded to the province early next year.

“We will be able to push the subway further into York, Peel and the Durham regions,” Yurek said.

“We will prioritize transit and transportation projects to make decisions based on what is best for all of Ontario, not just Torontonians.”

Tory met with Ford at Queen’s Park on Thursday to discuss issues such as transit and housing before the premier headed to Montreal for the First Ministers meeting.

The mayor said that during the meeting the premier assured him that this process of uploading was meant to be a collaborative one between both levels of government.

“I take him at his word that this is going to be a collaborative process and he understood very clearly that I have to have a process like this, that does sitting at a table, that does involve working with Mr. Lindsay and does involve getting the input of the different people involved before I can form a position as mayor,” Tory said.

Tory also noted that the idea of giving uploading subways to the province come up under both Kathleen Wynne and Patrick Brown governments, but in both cases it never evolved.

The mayor also added that he wants the public to be involved in consultations once everyone understands just what uploading means — unlike when the province decided to slash the size of city council without consulting taxpayers.