Toronto city council hit the brakes on Mayor Rob Ford’s transit plans following a special council meeting Wednesday.
Toronto’s city council passed a motion by TTC chair Karen Stintz that would keep light-rail lines above ground. The mayor’s transit plans, which would replace plans for more streetcars with underground subway cars and tunnels, were seen by many as a threat to contracts already awarded to Thunder Bay’s Bombardier plant.
Mayor Keith Hobbs said he was worried about the outcome of the debate because of how vocal Ford has been about his subway plan. But Thunder Bay has been lobbying Stintz and Toronto city councillors hard to show them how much the above-ground plan means to the city. He said a 26-17 vote shows how much support there was for the plan.
“We still have to see how it’s rolled out but it’s pretty encouraging news,” he said.
But given the amount of controversy the transit plan has had, Hobbs cautioned it isn’t over until it’s over.
Earlier Wednesday afternoon, as Toronto’s city councillors continued to debate transit, CAW Local 1075 president Dominic Pasqualino told tbnewswatch.com that he was optimistic council would undo the damage he believes Rob Ford has caused.
The CAW representative, who represents workers at the local Bombardier plant, said uncertainty and cutbacks on Toronto’s multi-billion dollar transit plan have forced the plant to speed up and then slow down production.
Toronto city council debated the city’s transit plans after a special council meeting was called to give Metrolinx clarity on how it was to spend its $8.4 billion provincial transit funding.
Going into the meeting, council was more or less split over whether to revive a plan from former mayor David Miller to expand an above-ground light rail system or go with Rob Ford’s plan to keep it underground.
“They have to follow the democratic process and Rob Ford is no different than anybody else on city council,” Pasqualino said. “He’s just one vote.”
Miller’s “Transit City” plan, as it is known, would be a boom for the Thunder Bay plant Pasqualino said. In the meantime, he said the plant has already cut one contract by 50 cars because of Ford’s plan.
When council finally voted, it appeared the split was not so 50-50. Councillors voted 27-16 in favour of the TTC chair’s plan.
That outcome is seen as good news to the local Bombardier plant. Pasqualino said every time Bombardier deals with the Toronto Transit Commission, it’s hard to tell whether a signed contract will actually mean anything.
“If you’re thinking in the back of your mind ‘oh well it depends on who gets elected’ and whether we’re actually going to build the cars or not it puts these whole things up in chaos.”
