[DavidH]

This is the best news I've seen on here in a very long time, though I can't help but wonder if municipalities will simply be "constrained to follow" the plans they already submitted and had rubber stamped previously.

"Constrained to follow" was my summary of the situation. According the legislation, any transportation master plans submitted prior to this act being passed are NOT the required transportation master plan. In other words, all municipalities will need to create new plans. Further, decisions under the planning act will need to take into account the planning policy statements from the minister, which will be based on the RTP. Also, municipalities can't build public works or pass bylaws that contradict the policy statements.

Here's the relevant bits:

Minister's transportation planning policy statements

31.1 (1) The Minister may issue policy statements that have been approved by the Lieutenant Governor in Council on matters relating to transportation planning in the regional transportation area.

Preparation of policy statement

(2) In developing a transportation planning policy statement, the Minister shall,

(a) consult with any person or body whom the Minister considers may have an interest in the policy statement, including the relevant provincial ministers of the Crown and provincial agencies, relevant federal ministers of the Crown and federal agencies, the Corporation, the public, First Nations in the regional transportation area, municipalities in the regional transportation area and planning authorities having jurisdiction in the regional transportation area, as and in the manner that the Minister considers appropriate;

(b) have regard to the transportation plan adopted by the Corporation under section 6; and

(c) ensure that the transportation planning policy statement is in alignment with the growth plans prepared and approved under the Places to Grow Act, 2005 applicable in the regional transportation area.

Designated policies

(3) A transportation planning policy statement issued by the Minister may designate one or more policies in the policy statement as designated policies.

Effect of designated policies

(4) A decision under the Planning Act or the Condominium Act, 1998 made by a municipal council, local board, minister of the Crown or ministry, board, commission or agency of the Government of Ontario, including the Ontario Municipal Board, that applies in the regional transportation area shall be consistent with the designated policies set out in a transportation planning policy statement.

Comments, advice

(5) Comments, submissions or advice relating to a decision or matter described in subsection (4), that are provided by the council of a municipality, a local board, a planning board, a minister or ministry, board, commission or agency of the government, shall,

(a) be consistent with the designated policies set out in a transportation planning policy statement; and

(b) have regard to the other policies set out in a transportation planning policy statement.

Exception

(6) Subsection (4) does not apply to a policy statement issued under section 3 of the Planning Act or to a minister's order under section 47 of the Planning Act .

Municipal public works and by-laws

(7) Despite any Act, no municipality in the regional transportation area or agency, board or commission of a municipality in the regional transportation area may undertake a public work or pass a by-law that conflicts with a transportation planning policy statement issued by the Minister.

Municipalities' transportation master plan

(8) The municipal council of every single-tier and upper-tier municipality in the regional transportation area, and the municipal council of any lower-tier municipality in the regional transportation area designated by the Minister, shall adopt a transportation master plan governing transportation planning matters in the municipality in accordance with and within the time required by the regulations.

Same

(9) A municipality that is required by subsection (8) to have a transportation master plan shall ensure that its transportation master plan is and remains consistent with the Minister's transportation planning policy statements.

Same

(10) A municipality that is required by subsection (8) to have a transportation master plan shall be guided in all transportation planning matters by its transportation master plan.

Same

(11) A transportation plan adopted by a municipality before the Minister issues his or her first transportation planning policy statement under subsection (1) does not constitute the transportation master plan required by this section.

 

[waterloowarrior]

new power

16(2) (d) to enter into commercial arrangements with municipalities in the regional transportation area or other persons or entities for a purpose consistentwith the Corporation’s objects, including for designing, developing, constructing, maintaining or operating a prescribed passenger transportation system.

PPP!

 

[waterloowarrior]

"Constrained to follow" was my summary of the situation. According the legislation, any transportation master plans submitted prior to this act being passed are NOT the required transportation master plan. In other words, all municipalities will need to create new plans. Further, decisions under the planning act will need to take into account the planning policy statements from the minister, which will be based on the RTP. Also, municipalities can't build public works or pass bylaws that contradict the policy statements.

So are these policy statements separate from the RTP?

 

[DavidH]

So are these policy statements separate from the RTP?

Yes, although he's supposed to "have regard" to the RTP. I suspect that realistically, they will come as requests from Metrolinx.

 

[catcher_of_cats]

Former Torstar CEO to oversee GO, Metrolinx merger

KAREN HOWLETT AND JEFF GRAY

Globe and Mail Update

March 30, 2009 at 2:09 PM EDT

Toronto — Robert Prichard, the outgoing chief executive officer of Torstar Corp., will oversee the merger of GO Transit and Metrolinx.

The Ontario government plans to unveil legislation later on Monday to merge the rapid transit system with the agency. Mr. Prichard, who announced his departure from Torstar last month, has been named transition adviser for the merger. He will become chief executive officer of the new entity once the merger is complete.

Metrolinx chairman Rob MacIsaac and GO Transit chairman Peter Smith will also serve on the transitional board of directors. The new Metrolinx board will consist of 15 members.

Toronto Mayor David Miller will remain on the Metrolinx board until the merger goes through. At that point, a new board will be appointed, a government source said. No sitting politicians would be appointed to the new board, which is to be made up of of planning and transportation experts.

That move would see an end to the role played Mr. Miller, Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion and other greater Toronto area municipal politicians, now on the Metrolinx board.

Asked about this possibility in recent weeks, Mr. Miller had strongly criticized the idea, saying that the region's public transportation system would be more accountable under the control of a board of mostly local politicians.

But the Toronto Board of Trade and others have been urging for a Metrolinx board made up of private-sector experts instead of local politicians.

The government says the proposed merger would help get shovels in the ground faster on new transit projects. This would lead to thousands more construction jobs over the coming years.

“Metrolinx has done an excellent job building the agency and preparing a regional transportation plan,†Transportation Minister Jim Bradley said in a statement. “By bringing Metrolinx together with experienced transit-builder GO, we will be able to take transportation plans off the drawing board and into service more quickly.â€

In 2007, the B.C. government made a similar controversial move with its Vancouver-region transportation body, TransLink, scrapping a board of local politicians and replacing it with unelected experts. (TransLink must now clear fare increases and other major moves through a new regional mayors' council.) The new TransLink board moved swiftly both to hold its formerly public meetings behind closed doors and to give it self a pay hike, raising its per-meeting stipdend for board members to $1,200 -- six times what the old board received.

 

[nfitz]

In the big picture, these seems to be the full implementation of the originally envisioned Metrolinx also running GO Transit with some tweaks - but removing the Metrolinx Board of Directors and instead replacing them with up to 15 directors named by the province; which is what GO Transit had - up to 15 directors named by the province.

 

[DavidH]

In the big picture, these seems to be the full implementation of the originally envisioned Metrolinx also running GO Transit with some tweaks - but removing the Metrolinx Board of Directors and instead replacing them with up to 15 directors named by the province; which is what GO Transit had - up to 15 directors named by the province.

And also giving the Minister the power to order Metrolinx to make changes to the plan, and to compel municipalities to follow the plan.

 

[nfitz]

And also giving the Minister the power to order Metrolinx to make changes to the plan

I'm not seeing anything new about this (probably a function of me not finding it, rather than it not being there). Section 6(2)(c) of the existing legislation already says that the transportation plan must "comply with the Minister’s transportation plans, policies and strategies for the province as they apply to the regional transportation area" and I don't see any changes to that.

and to compel municipalities to follow the plan.

Which section is that?

 

[Anth]

"Constrained to follow" was my summary of the situation. According the legislation, any transportation master plans submitted prior to this act being passed are NOT the required transportation master plan. In other words, all municipalities will need to create new plans. Further, decisions under the planning act will need to take into account the planning policy statements from the minister, which will be based on the RTP. Also, municipalities can't build public works or pass bylaws that contradict the policy statements.

Wow. I'm going to have to let that sink in. Thanks for the clarification!

 

[DavidH]

I'm not seeing anything new about this (probably a function of me not finding it, rather than it not being there). Section 6(2)(c) of the existing legislation already says that the transportation plan must "comply with the Minister’s transportation plans, policies and strategies for the province as they apply to the regional transportation area" and I don't see any changes to that.

21. Section 31 of the Act is amended by adding the following subsection:

Same - re transportation plan

(1.1) Without limiting the generality of subsection (1), the Minister may issue a directive to the Corporation to amend the transportation plan for the regional transportation area, including a directive to incorporate steps for implementing the plan.

Which section is that?

See my quotes above in post 166.

 

[Whoaccio]

PPP!

Canada Line!

 

[DavidH]

new power

Perhaps not. After all, the legislation needs to empower Metrolinx to do everything GO can currently do.

 

[nfitz]

21. Section 31 of the Act is amended by adding the following subsection ...

Ah, interesting.

Same - re transportation plan

See my quotes above in post 166.

It seems to compel the Municipality to have the plan - I'm not seeing anything that actually compels it to enact the plan that it has. For example, we see a lot of higher-order transit corridors in the City of Toronto plan - but it's only lines on paper - nothing actually makes the city go out and do anything.

 

[DavidH]

It seems to compel the Municipality to have the plan - I'm not seeing anything that actually compels it to enact the plan that it has. For example, we see a lot of higher-order transit corridors in the City of Toronto plan - but it's only lines on paper - nothing actually makes the city go out and do anything.

Well, the "public works" portion would also help, as would the planning issues.

But in general, you're right. It's one thing to prevent the City from building things that conflict with a plan. It's another to actually force them to do the things that are in the plan.

 

[waterloowarrior]

Metrolinx swallows Go Transit — what next?
Posted: March 30, 2009, 9:48 PM by Rob Roberts
Kuitenbrouwer, GO Transit


In the train business, coupling cars is a delicate operation. Today the Province of Ontario tabled legislation at Queen’s Park that will hitch Metrolinx -- up until now a regional transportation planning body -- to the head of GO Transit, to create a new agency that will at once plan and build regional transit, and run the trains.

Rob Prichard, chief executive of Torstar, is becoming conductor of the new Metrolinx. Torstar had in February announced Mr. Prichard’s departure in May, and paid him an $11-million severance; at the time he told us, “I literally have no set plans. Zero. Not a thing.”

Well, today Mr. Prichard, 60, has some plans. To borrow the lingo of Thomas the Tank Engine, he is becoming Sir Topham Hatt.

In the Thomas books, the “fat controller” runs the railway with an iron fist; in the new Metrolinx, Mr. Prichard will not be saddled by any pesky elected officials on his board of directors. Currently six politicians sit on the GO Transit board, including the mayors of Richmond Hill, Brampton, Oakville and Pickering. Seven politicians sit on the board of Metrolinx, including Hazel McCallion, the mayor of Mississauga, and David Miller, the mayor of Toronto. The new Metrolinx will have no politicians at all; replacing them will be “experts in planning, finance and development.”

Mr. Prichard, who will earn $215,000 a year, is a Transitional Advisor, he says, and hopes the new Metrolinx can recruit a new chief executive within a year.

It’s hard to tell what this means for agencies like the Toronto Transit Commission. Granted, the TTC seems a bit out of favour with the province these days because it is putting its priority on projects within the City of Toronto, such as its Transit City network of light rail lines on Sheppard, Finch and Eglinton avenues, among other routes. Still, let’s not forget that the TTC is almost 10 times the size of GO or the new Metrolinx; the TTC will move 470 million passengers this year, compared to 55-million on GO Transit.

The government apparently has no plans right now for Metrolinx to take over the TTC or other transit systems. But the legislation does allow Metrolinx to own transit lines that are regional in nature, which means Metrolinx may end up owning the subways to Vaughan and Richmond Hill.

Peter Smith, the chairman of GO Transit who becomes vice-chair of the new Metrolinx, promises, “the new body will consult with all the stakeholders.” And he says commuters are the big winners: “They will see more expansion of service and faster starts on construction projects.”

Toronto city council does have at least one strong card in its hand: the city has not yet inked a deal it negotiated to sell the huge, abandoned West Wing of Union Station as a new headquarters for GO. Metrolinx will presumably have to play nice if it wants that swanky address, which is at ground zero for any regional transportation network that Metrolinx should plan to perfect.

All this said, certainly it’s nice to see the Government of Ontario taking regional transit seriously after at least a generation of neglect.

“This is not about the 416 or the 905,” says Paul Bedford, Toronto’s former chief planner, who will sit on the new Metrolinx board. “It’s about both.”