Two Toronto transit stations may be cancelled after years of waiting

A full decade has passed since John Tory was elected in part on a campaign promise to transform GO Transit corridors into a new rapid transit system, Toronto’s supposed silver bullet for transit congestion has been whittled down from 22 stations to just five — and that number could soon drop to just three stations.

John Tory resigned after nine years in office, but his legacy SmartTrack plan remains in the works despite exhibiting no evidence of smarts or even track since first promised, and had lost 17 of its 22 stations by the time his term ended in disgrace amid a sex scandal.

That plan could now be further reduced, according to a new City report that reveals both the provincial government and Metrolinx no longer believe the stations could be constructed at the original program budget of approximately $1.7 billion, forcing the City to defer plans to construct two of the five stations.

Mayor Chow was officially notified of the need to revise plans for SmartTrack in November with a letter from the Ontario Minister of Transportation stating that “cost pressures exceed the approved Program Budget,” citing “global market conditions driven by rising interest rates and escalating prices for materials, skilled trades and labour.”

City officials later met with counterparts at the provincial government and Metrolinx to assess the damage, resulting in a further scaled-back plan that would see the project proceed with just three stations.

SmartTrack’s five-station route.

The report from the City manager recommends that council confirm the priority of East Harbour, Bloor-Lansdowne, and St. Clair-Old Weston as a “prioritized program scope” that would see the line’s proposed King-Liberty and Finch-Kennedy stations deferred pending additional funding.

An alternate plan would have seen Finch-Kennedy be built, and St. Clair-Old Weston deferred in its place, though the City is moving forward with the former option.

The project’s price tag would be divided among all three levels of government, with the City footing 52 per cent ($878 million), the federal government pitching in another 34.6 per cent ($585 million), and the Ontario government responsible for the balance of 13.4 per cent ($226 million).

Though two stations may be deferred, the City maintains that the stations should be funded and built.

“Since Finch-Kennedy and King-Liberty stations will benefit the Province through increased ridership on the GO system, and as the Province will own and maintain the stations, the City continues to maintain that the Province, through Metrolinx, should deliver all five SmartTrack Stations,” reads the letter to council.