Ontario’s transportation minister says his government’s plan to take ownership of the TTC subway system won’t be executed in secret, despite acknowledging that much of the advice provided by the province’s special adviser on the proposal will be kept from public view. In an interview Thursday, Jeff Yurek reiterated his intention to move forward with the controversial subway upload, and asserted that “there’s no secrets going on here.”Yurek said Michael Lindsay, who was appointed by the province in August as its special adviser on the plan, has already provided some advice to Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government, but it has not been made public. Yurek said Lindsay will continue to advise the government on an ongoing basis, adding that information provided by Lindsay that is considered advice to cabinet or may be commercially sensitive won’t be made public. He noted it’s routine for governments to keep advice to cabinet confidential.According to Yurek, the provincial government will release some information about the upload plan, but he wouldn’t provide details. Yurek said the city will also likely release information it receives through reports to council. Council expects to receive an update on upload discussions with the province in the first quarter of this year. “Hopefully at the end of the day it’s a joint release of information between the city and the province, and that will show that we’re working together on this project in a collaborative fashion,” he said. “We need to show the people of Toronto the reasons why this upload is important, how it’s going to affect the daily commute and improve the commuters’ lives, and that information will be out in the public domain.”Asked what aspects of Lindsay’s advice could be considered commercially sensitive, the minister said it could be information related to the valuation of ...
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