City council vote on Scarborough subway alignment, extension plan moves forward
It was another long day of discussion at City Hall on Tuesday, but City Council voted to move ahead with the Scarborough Subway Extension’s alignment on McCowan Road.
The extension will be from Line 2 at Kennedy Station to Scarborough Town Centre via the voted McCowan alignment. Council also approved the Triton bus terminal concept, which has an added cost of $187 million.
With a 26 to 18 vote in favour of the Next Steps on the Scarborough Subway Extension, a $3.35 billion project, Mayor John Tory said he was ‘very happy’ to proceed as he spoke to media after the meeting.
During the meeting, Councillor Josh Matlow made a motion to ask City staff to provide a “Business Case Analysis comparison of the Scarborough Subway Extension and the Scarborough LRT replacement of the Scarborough RT.” Matlow’s motion failed, with 27 votes against the motion, including Tory’s vote against it.
In the days leading to the council meeting, Councillor Matlow had been tweeting about the extension. “Is Toronto’s mayor really saying city planners aren’t real people & we should make transit decisions on what actual real people “believe”?,” he said on Monday.
To be clear, the mayor is dismissing expert advise based on some residents’ “belief”, regarding a subway stop that hasn’t even been built.
— Josh Matlow (@JoshMatlow) March 27, 2017
— Josh Matlow (@JoshMatlow) March 25, 2017
And with the funding still pending in terms of the provincial government, council also voted to request the Province of Ontario and Government of Canada to confirm the sources of funding for the commitments to the Scarborough Subway Extension.
“We need the province to step up now with their share to match the money that has been put forward by the federal government, and then we will have to come to grips with our own share,” Tory said after the council meeting.
With the votes in favour of the project, the extension project will continue to proceed.
“This is an important step forward,” tweeted Tory. “Express subway will connect #ScarbTO with existing network. I’m confident it will bring economic growth.”
This is an important step forward. Express subway will connect #ScarbTO with existing network. I’m confident it will bring economic growth.
— John Tory (@JohnTory) March 28, 2017
See also
Follow Channels and Categories