Allandale25
Senior Member
There will be so much lock-in to electrification by 2018 that it will be difficult to cancel it completely. Scaleback and some delays, possible. Complete cancel, probably not.
Excellent points. Although this is the same party that filled in the Eglinton West subway when it was under construction, so I think there could still be some trepidation.
That being said, RER will have a positive impact in the 905 so it's hard to see why they would cancel it outright but I agree they could slow it down. I also wonder if they'll avoid saying they would touch RER so they don't fall into the trap of the Liberals saying the PCs hate transit entirely and will cancel everything. Maybe they'll stick to something small like rolling Metrolinx into the MTO and claiming it's an "efficiency". It's hard to say at this point and all of this is speculative and pre-judging what they'll run on in 2018. Brown has been careful up until now to stay pretty quiet on specific policies or on the transit file, other than his comments relating to LRT in Hamilton and of course tolls. As best I can tell, other than the AG's report on Metrolinx, the party hasn't specifically stated much about RER, LRTs on Finch/Sheppard, the Brampton LRT situation, etc.
Just as a reference point, here's a CBC article from 2014 that spoke about the PC platform in that election:
The PC plan takes a different path. It's spread over 25 years with up to $2 billion dedicated each year. All-day, two-way GO service is there. LRTs are out, subway expansion in Toronto is in, focusing on an east-west express line as well as expanding subways north in to York Region and Scarborough.
The PC plan is unique in it calls for an overhaul in how transit is managed, calling for a merger of GO Transit, LRTs, subways and major highways into one transportation entity.
It's a departure from what Metrolinx has in mind, and with some key elements missing or removed, some experts are warning it could be a disaster (more on that later).