Days after provincial and city officials faced off over the opening date of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, Ontario’s Transportation Minister says the TTC can begin operating the line “when they feel comfortable.”
After nearly 15 years of construction, Metrolinx announced the long-delayed line had reached substation completion on Dec. 5, allowing the province to finally transfer responsibility for the line to the TTC for operation.
Multiple sources told Global News that while the transit agency and the Ministry of Transportation planned to open the line during the last week of December, the Toronto Transit Commission resisted that and targeted early February instead.
The two competing opening dates came to a head at a meeting on Dec. 5 involving Metrolinx, the TTC, Premier Doug Ford, Mayor Olivia Chow and Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria.
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Sources said Metrolinx pushed for Sunday, Dec. 28, to open the line. The provincial agency was adamant that the remaining issues with the line could be ironed out by then.
TTC CEO Mandeep Lali pushed back against the plan. Sources said he wanted to see the line open around Feb. 8, citing concerns about rushing fixes to the remaining technical problems.
Lali repeatedly sidestepped questions about the meeting and the opening date for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT when he spoke to reporters on Wednesday.
The meeting appeared to end with Ford accepting Toronto’s position that the line could not be opened this year.
“There’s a couple of things we’ve got to tweak,” the premier told reporters shortly after. “I’d rather wait and get it done properly, god knows we’ve only waited 15 years for this. We might as well wait until they’re ready.”
On Monday, Sarkaria seemed to accept the TTC’s position, suggesting the province is willing to give the transit agency the time it needs to open the line to the public.
“We’re going to work with the TTC on this, but this is with the TTC now,” Sarkaria told Global News. “When the TTC feels comfortable to move forward, they will do so on an operational basis.”
Sarkaria declined to share details of the meeting.
TTC Chair Jamaal Myers also shut down attempts by Coun. Josh Matlow during a board meeting to inquire about the substance of the conversation during a commission board meeting.
“We always want to keep our conversations with our partners free-flowing, and if we’re reporting details about meetings or conversations that breaks that relationship,” Myers said.
At Queen’s Park, the government critics called for the province to prioritize safety over political expediency on a potential opening date.
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