To upload Toronto’s subway, or not to upload it, isn’t really the question.For the answer is a foregone conclusion: Of course Ontario should do it.Possessed of big pockets and the big picture, the province has long been better placed to own the TTC’s subway lines. Queen’s Park has the ability to bankroll — and borrow for — big capital projects, unlike Toronto’s restricted cash flow and perennial shortfalls.The linkages in our interconnected megalopolis require us to expand subway planning beyond a Toronto-centric perspective. With the premier of the day directly accountable for subway expansion, he or she is more likely to fund a future relief line than plead poverty.Opposition to this week’s move by the Progressive Conservative government — signing a framework with Toronto to figure out costs and benefits — shouldn’t blind us to the reality that it’s not just a PC idea.Greg Sorbara, the longtime Liberal finance minister who pushed the subway out to his Vaughan riding, lobbied privately for a full takeover. Ex-premier Kathleen Wynne mooted it in the last Liberal budget in this now-neglected passage:Read more: Ontario, Toronto release framework for deal to upload city’s subway to Queen’s ParkWhat we know (and what we don’t) about the TTC subway uploadRelief line must open before Yonge North subway extension, Metrolinx says“The province will begin discussions with the City of Toronto to determine whether provincial ownership of TTC subway lines could provide better transit services for residents in the GTHA, and allow for a better sharing of costs for transit expansion between the province and the City of Toronto.”A perfectly sensible Liberal proposal. Premier Doug Ford couldn’t have put it any better this week, but he surely tried — promising to “cut through red tape to start new projects and finish construction faster.”If it was a good id ...
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