Metrolinx accountability needs to start at the top after auditor finds systemic failures

After the Auditor General found that Metrolinx continues to pay out contractors for faulty work, the Ontario NDP’s urban transit critic, Cheri DiNovo, demanded the Wynne government show some accountability.

“Metrolinx keeps giving contractors  second, third and fourth chances for faulty work,” DiNovo said.  “In one case, a contractor failed to show up for work for six months, and not only got a second chance, it got 22 more chances. 

Two months ago, Metrolinx Chair Rob Prichard was reappointed for another term as the Chair of the Metrolinx Board of Directors.

“Did the Minister know what was in this Metrolinx audit when he allowed Mr. Prichard another chance as Chair?”

The Minister of Transportation has promised there will be increased accountability at Metrolinx following the Auditor General’s report.

“Yet no one has been held accountable for Presto cost over-runs, the disastrous roll-out of the Union Pearson Express, upside-down bridge trusses, and years of transit planning chaos,” DiNovo said.

 “The Minister has decided that Liberal insiders like Rob Prichard are doing a fine job at providing oversight at Metrolinx. Public support for transit investment won’t survive more Metrolinx audits like this last one. Public trust depends on accountability, and accountability needs to start at the top.”

“Who does the Minister hold accountable for these failures at Metrolinx that happened on his watch?”  DiNovo asked.