TORONTO – The major candidates – Olivia Chow, John Tory, David Soknacki and Karen Stintz – have all registered to take on Rob Ford for Toronto’s mayoralty.
So where do they stand on the issues?
First, the Scarborough subway. City council followed Ford’s lead in October and voted by a slim majority (24-20) to extend the Bloor-Danforth subway line to the Scabrorough Town Centre.
The $3-billion plan for three stops hands a $910 million bill (possibly much greater) to Toronto taxpayers that will be paid through increases to development charges and property taxes. The first, passed in January, was 0.5 per cent. The city will also be on the hook for operating costs once the subway’s built.
That plan also effectively scrapped a fully-funded seven-stop light rail transit (LRT) project. The provincial government would have covered the entire $1.4 billion cost, as well as operating costs afterward.
But more than six months later, it’s still very much a live issue and will likely continue to be one throughout the election campaign.
Here’s where the major candidates stand.
Rob Ford
As already stated, Ford led the charge for the Scarborough subway extension while falsely likening the LRT to a glorified streetcar whose construction would “rip up roads” (it wouldn’t).
While subway construction has not even begun, Ford has listed it first among his accomplishments on his campaign website.
Watch: (Oct. 8) Ford has only one word for reporters: ‘subways.’
He’s also firmly attached his campaign to subways elsewhere, promising a subway along Sheppard Avenue and, eventually, a relief line.
“They approved the LRT on Sheppard – people don’t want the LRT on Sheppard. So I guess that will be our next subway plan is to tackle the LRTs on Sheppard and put subways along there to connect the loop between Don Mills and McCowan,” he said on Newstalk 1010 in September, 2013.
“It only makes sense.”
Olivia Chow
Olivia Chow prefers the LRT.
“We need to move people faster and do it now,” she told reporters at her campaign launch Thursday.
“We can build something faster, build better services, four years faster and four more stops.”
Karen Stintz
After at first supporting light rail, Stintz sided with Ford during the October council session during which councillors vote to build the subway extension.
John Tory
Tory has not released his campaign plan yet but in a statement to Global News Thursday, his campaign spokesperson Amanda Galbraith said Tory is dedicated to building the Scarborough subway extension.
Galbraith also said Tory’s number-one priority is the “Yonge Street relief line.”
David Soknacki
Soknacki, former mayor David Miller’s budget chief, has made his intentions for the planned subway extension clear – he wants it gone.
Soknacki characterized the plan as “Mayor Ford’s $1-billion, 30-year tax increase.”
“If elected mayor of Toronto, I will lead council to return to the plan to build light rail transit. The line that the people of Scarborough need and that they deserve,” Soknacki said in January. “It’s the right option for transit in Scarborough.”
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