Metrolinx can’t be relied on to produce the new Ontario Line on time and on budget, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) says.
CTF Ontario Director Jay Goldberg said the latest cost estimate for the new Toronto transit line is at least $19 billion, up from $11 billion, a 75% increase when the project is still in its earlier days.
“That’s eight brand new state-of-the-art hospitals,” Goldberg said Tuesday. “I think it’s a real failure on the part of Metrolinx in terms of management … It’s definitely time for the Ford government to look at whether Metrolinx really is the best vehicle to be delivering these projects and it seems like the answer is no.”
The Ontario Line would be a 15.6-kilometre, 15-stop line from the Ontario Science Centre through the downtown to Exhibition Place.
Dakota Brasier, a spokesperson for Ontario Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney, said the government has tasked Metrolinx with delivering the largest transit expansion plan in Canadian history.
“Construction projects worldwide are facing economic challenges with rising inflation costs and supply chain shortages,” Brasier said. “We are making significant progress on the Ontario Line and will continue to ensure that Ontario taxpayers receive the best value for their money possible.”
Goldberg said there needs to be ongoing transparency around the cost of this and other major infrastructure projects so Ontario residents can determine if the high cost is the best use of their money or whether they would prefer the funds spent on other priorities.
“For people at home, people looking at the sticker cost … what else could we be getting for $19 billion,” he said. “When a lot of people hear that the cost of this project has nearly doubled, it’s nowhere near completion, it is just one of the many projects the Ford government is pursuing that will end up costing us well over $30 billion … you have to ask what could we be getting for this instead?”
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