Business case shows Ontario Line might be the next 407

TORONTO — The business case for the Ontario Line shows that Toronto or the province may not own it.

“Both Relief Line South and Ontario Line are designed to run as part of the existing transit network with a TTC fare, regardless of final ownership, operation, or maintenance arrangements,” reads the business case for Ford’s proposed plan, which was released online on Thursday. It would be a “freestanding line from a systems and standards perspective,” the document says.

NDP Transit critic Jessica Bell says the business plan sets off warning sirens.

“With Doug Ford’s scheme, the people who pay for this transit expansion may not own it,” said Bell. “The business case says ‘regardless of final ownership,’ because Ford may be giving a critical piece of Toronto and our infrastructure over to private interests. The transit system in Toronto should belong to the people of Toronto."

Regardless of who holds the deed on the Ontario Line, the new business case says the Ontario Line would be a Public-Private Partnership (P3). P3s are a form of privatization that typically cost more overall. According to Ontario’s Auditor General, 74 P3 projects cost Ontarians a whopping $8 billion extra than if they were built publicly.

Bell pointed to the privatized 407 Highway, UP Express, Eglinton Crosstown and the switch to the Presto system as P3s and privatization resulting in delays and cost-overruns.

“Doug Ford ripped up plans for a subway relief line that was nearly shovel-ready, burning years of work and hundreds of millions of dollars spent on detailed planning,” said Bell. “He did that so he could replace it with a back-of-the-napkin scheme that includes a lot of opportunity for the private sector to make bank off TTC riders. That sets of alarm bells for TTC riders.”