Premier Doug Ford is acknowledging that the cost of constructing his signature Ontario Line will grow as a result of post-pandemic inflation and supply chain issues, leading to growing calls for transparency.
The Ontario Line — a 15.6-kilometre, 15-stop transit line connecting the Ontario Science Centre to Ontario Place — was originally scheduled to open as early as 2027, according to the province’s initial timeline, with an estimated budget of $10.9 billion to lay new tracks, build new stations, purchase new trains and construct a new storage yard.
The costs, however, began to grow as the province began handing out contracts last November pushing the price tag up to nearly $20 billion to construct and maintain the transit system over a 30-year period.
Meanwhile, the province began redacting documents prepared by the provincial transit agency Metrolinx that laid out the evolving costs of the transit line — citing a desire to avoid a public conversation about the growing expense and the lack of transparent, according to documents obtained by Global News through a freedom of information act request.
Pressed for answers about the true cost of the Ontario Line, Premier Ford defended his government, arguing that the province has seen “costs escalate” across the board for large-scale infrastructure projects.
“We aren’t hiding anything,” Ford said. “We’ve seen costs escalate throughout the pandemic. We see it on all our projects.”
The recent Ontario budget laid out the financial consequence of rising inflation which sent provincial construction cost estimates through the roof.
The province’s 10-year capital plan, to build highways, hospitals and subways, was initially pegged at $158.8 billion in 2022. That figure ballooned by $25 billion to $184.4 billion in the 2023-24 Ontario budget, with transit projects increasing by $8.9 billion in a single year.
Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney said the province publishes the value of the contracts when they’re awarded, giving taxpayers a clear view of the costs as they’re being added up.
In November, for example, a contract valued at $6 billion was awarded to the Ontario Transit Group for the design, construction and financing of southern stations and tunnels. Meanwhile, a separate contract was awarded for trains, systems, operations and maintenance to run the line itself for 30 years to Connect 6ix, with a value of $9 billion.
“The contract for the Ontario Line, in order to deliver best value, has been broken up into different segments and as those different bids are out and contracts are awarded they will be published in a transparent and open way,” Mulroney told Global News.
Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy offered another reason for why the province is shielding the revised cost estimates for the Ontario Line.
“There are times when there is commercially sensitive information that we have to be very cautious about,” Bethlenfalvy said. “We’re not just building the Ontario Line, we’re building a lot of other things.”
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the government to release the full cost of the Ontario Line, giving taxpayers a clear view of how much the project is expected to cost.
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