The Premier said she has not indicated any preference on her part. Whichever route Wynne decides to take will put the province on a path it will have to stay on for the next handful of generations. Her problem is how to deal with all the demands which are very real and at the same time manage the political side of it all.
Is Premier Wynne saying we are all in this together.
One big happy family – but who’s credit card are we going to use to pay for this?
Wynne wants people to see and experience the changes she wants to make and seems to believe that if people experience better transportation options it will be easier for them to live with the hit their wallets will take: for make no mistake about our transportation problems – it is going to cost us a fortune to make up for the failures in the past to adequately develop and then fund newer, more efficient, more environmentally friendly ways of getting ourselves from place to place.
At some point Wynne is going to have to go to the polls and have the voters give her a mandate. If Burlingtonians are sitting in traffic on the QEW fuming about the pace, they are not going to develop that warm fuzzy feeling and trust she needs for people to elect her as Premier.
Metrolinx has put together a massive program called The Big Move, which focuses on how we are going to move people from home to work and back in a way that is comfortable, convenient and affordable. They have all kinds of ideas and they certainly have a firm grip on the size of the problem – the real problem is the size of the wallet they have to work out of – it isn’t big enough – no money.
Wynne seems prepared to let Metrolinx do their thing – she wouldn’t comment on their work until they make announcements sometime in June.
She told the conference call that her Minister of Transportation is “enthusiastic”, which is nice I suppose, but other than media releases about The Big Move and how it is going to be funded we have nothing.
Everyone seems to agree that whatever Metrolinx does will first focus on Toronto’s needs – where congestion is in the process of killing an economy. The ‘burbs” seem to understand that Toronto needs the attention – BUT – if the transit money is going to be spent solving the Toronto problems – then the province needs to back off on its growth plans for Halton. Without major improvements to transit – the Region cannot handle the projected population growth.
What level of GO service are we going to have? When will we see electrification of LAkeshore West?
She also mentioned that GO is going to get to the point – soon – where it is all day – both ways. That’s not what the folks have been hearing at the Region – Milton and Georgetown appear to have been told that the level of service there is going to be cut back and that electrification of the Lakeshore West line – which is us – is on hold. If that is true those smaller electric units that would be much more efficient and allow for a level of service that would be better than the hourly service outside the peaks is not on for some time.
The Premier does have her hands full but she is reaching out and appears to be listening. The hope is, and we have to take her at her word on this – is that she has been consistent in her thinking that transit has to happen. All Wynne needs to do is find the money to pay for it all.
Interesting that she mentioned that in Holland, it is more convenient to ride a bike than to drive a car. Believe it or not, it wasn’t always that way. The Dutch are actually not a different species from us here in North America. In the early 1970’s, they came to the realization that they didn’t have the space, or the funding for everyone to use a car for every trip. So they took a look at their transportation system and identified the most efficient, most fiscally conservative way for people to get around on their own schedules, and made it easier for everyone to use that method of transportation.
In the 2000’s, in the GTA we have come to much the same point as the Dutch did. We have no more space to build highways, unless we destroy our most beautiful natural areas, nor do we have the funding. Lets hope that we have the capability to learn from their experience, and start to build a cycling network that puts the Dutch one to shame. Imagine if 20 or 30% of the cars we see every day were bicycles, how much easier it would be to get around this city by whatever method we choose.
Good call Chris. I have clients in Downtown Toronto and 12 years ago I drove most of the time, but the more I took Burlington Transit, the GO Train & the street car, the more I liked it. I then started walking from Union Station. I knew of 1 person who used a bicycle in T.O. then. but 12 years later bike use has exploded (Messers Ford notwithstanding).
Now my bus has been cancelled, so I’m forced to drive in the winter. But I can bike in the summer, if I can get sheltered bike parking that is.
This should not confuse me but it does. I did not support MS Wynne for leader but attended the Liberal Christmas party where she went on.
And on.
And on.
And on, about a lot of stuff. Then in reply to a question from a former MPP she was pretty clear:
No new highway.
No new highway through the escarpment.
Build transit not highways.
So why the double talk now? It was simple then, it was simple now.
To paraphrase THE LOST TREASURE OF SERRIA MADRE:
” Highway? Way don’t neeed no steeekeen HIGHWAY!”