The most expensive part of Ontario’s new deal with Toronto is a promise from the provincial government to take control of — or upload — the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway.
The two governments estimate the move will help Toronto avoid $7.8 billion in road maintenance and repair costs it would have had to handle without the upload.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he did not want to take control of the two roads but that it was the right thing to do.
“If anyone thinks I want the DVP or the Gardiner, no, I don’t,” he said Monday. “But that’s how responsibility works.”
With legislation to cement the deal expected imminently, here’s what the upload of both the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner Expressway means.
Ontario takes control
At its most basic, the deal means the Ontario government will take control of planning, managing and paying for the two roads.
That means Queen’s Park will have to pay for repairs, plan scheduled closures and deal with any other maintenance issues or big decisions down the line as they come up.
It means decisions over potential changes to how the roads work, including a campaign promise from Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow to run the Gardiner Expressway as a ground-level boulevard, will now be made by the provincial government.
Asked if he had any plans to expand the Don Valley Parkway, Ford said that “you physically can’t widen it,” calling the route the Don Valley Parking Lot.
Ford confirmed the two expressways would be “solely paid for” by the province with no cost-sharing agreement between Toronto and Ontario.
No tolls
The upload of the two roads also came with a promise from Ford not to toll either the Don Valley Parkway or the Gardiner Expressway.
“We’re working together to put Toronto on the path to success, not by painful cuts in services or new taxes and tolls but through smart, effective growth,” Ford said.
Both he and Chow called on the federal government to pitch in funds for the overall new deal.
Although the province could technically amend legislation in order to toll the road, the premier said that won’t happen.
During his last term in office, Ford removed tolls on two highways in Durham, an achievement he has continued to reference.
Toronto will reallocate expressway funds
The money Toronto will avoid spending through the upload deal will be used to fund other priorities.
“That’s money going into city hall’s coffers that they’re going to be able to do things … as simple as filling potholes,” Ford said.
Chow explained that the deal would free up a lot of room in her upcoming budget.
“It means that we can now have the budget room to deal with some of the urgent problems, whether it’s something small like potholes — but it can add up,” she said, also mentioning money to fix the TTC and build affordable housing.
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