He has to get re-elected, he has to find the money and he has to defend his failure to meet most of the 249 promises he failed to deliver during the last election. And of course the mayors of the cities that will benefit from this transportation nirvana are just salivating at the thought of getting some crumbs even though no one has said how they will find their portion of the cost. LET'S REMEMBER - THERE IS ONLY ONE TAXPAYER AND WE ARE JUST GETTING OVER PAYING FOR THE PREPERATION H WE HAVE BEEN USING OVER THE LAST FOUR YEARS OF LIBERAL IDIOCY.
Biggest Transit Expansion In Cdn. History Comes With Billion Dollar Strings Attached
Friday June 15, 2007
CityNews.ca Staff
Extending the Yonge subway into Vaughan.
Making GO trains run faster and more frequently.
Expanding the light rail system as far as Hamilton.
Getting more cars off the road.
They all have three things in common - they're goals everyone seems to agree are worthwhile, they're all incredibly expensive and now they're all being promised by the McGuinty government. The Liberals came out with a stunning $17.5 billion proposal for the largest transit expansion in Canadian history Friday. But some worry they're being taken for a ride.
Under the plan, the subway would extend to Highway 7, joining the previously announced new stops in York Region along the Spadina line. GO's busy Lakeshore trains would be electrified, allowing them to move faster and cut 15 minutes from an average trip between here and Hamilton. "Life is busy enough without sitting on a highway when you need to get home to get the kids to soccer or to help them with homework," explains Premier Dalton McGuinty.
Also on the agenda: more transit in York, Durham and Peel Regions, two light rapid transit lines in Hamilton and more express buses along Highway 407. The price tag for what the Grits hope is just down the road is pegged at $17 billion-plus, but by the time two generations pay it all off in 50 years, it will be double that. "Something in the range of $30 billion long-term but again we're losing $2 billion today in the way of lost productivity," McGuinty explains about the cost.
MoveOntario would not only increase your travel options, add 900 kilometres of either new or improved ways to get around and cut back on congestion, but it would create some 175,000 jobs before it's fully finished in 2020.
Still, this round trip is anything but assured. The federal government will have to kick in $5.8 billion of its own, something that's far from guaranteed. And there's one other really big joker in this stacked transit deck - it may only happen if the Liberals get re-elected after the October 10th election.
And that has the opposition up in arms, accusing the Grits of orchestrating a campaign style event they should have attended to years ago. But the mayors of the cities involved believe it will proceed no matter who wins.
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