Premier Ford wants feds to fund 40% of Toronto’s 4 subway projects

TORONTO, ON., March 10, 2020 ― Today, Premier Doug Ford, along with Caroline Mulroney, Minister of Transportation, and Kinga Surma, Associate Minister of Transportation, invited the federal government to join the province at the table and fund at least 40 per cent of the four subway projects being built in the Greater Toronto Area.

“Our government has a plan to build Ontario together and has joined a coalition of municipal partners to build some of the most ambitious, historic and nationally significant projects in the country”, said Premier Ford. “We have made tremendous progress in the past working with our federal partners, and we can do it again with our rapid transit plan, which includes four subways. I firmly believe these projects will not only move Ontario forward, but will move the entire country forward.”

In advance of the First Ministers Meeting this week, Premier Ford will be leading a Team Ontario delegation of Cabinet Ministers to Ottawa to discuss partnering with the federal government on transit funding and other provincial priorities.

The invitation to the federal government comes as the Ontario government announced the first phase of construction and tunneling work for two priority transit projects ― the three-stop Scarborough Subway Extension and the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension with planned connection to Pearson International Airport, the second-largest employment zone in Canada.

Two Requests for Qualifications (RFQs) were issued, through Infrastructure Ontario (IO) and Metrolinx, and mark the first step in the procurement process to deliver on the Province’s commitment to build transit faster, eliminate gridlock, and connect people to places and jobs.

“We are building a modern, efficient rapid transit system that provides benefits for all transit riders and taxpayers,” said Minister Mulroney. “These subway projects in Scarborough and along Eglinton will strengthen our transit network and better connect us as a world-class province, region, and city.”

“We’ve worked diligently to make great strides in building transit, creating a transit plan, establishing a historic Ontario-Toronto Transit Partnership agreement with the city, and introducing legislation to build transit faster”, said Kinga Surma, Associate Minister of Transportation (GTA). “Now it’s time to get shovels in the ground and place orders for tunnel boring machines to expand our subway system by more than 50 per cent. Our Government is moving at an unprecedented pace to deliver on the Premier’s transit vision for the Province.”

“Our government has made transit and transportation infrastructure a marquee part of our plan for Ontario,” said Laurie Scott, Minister of Infrastructure. “We are moving forward with the most significant transit projects the Greater Toronto Area has experienced in generations and all of these projects will be delivered using Ontario’s world-class Public-Private Partnership (“P3″) model. Today marks an exciting milestone for two of the priority transit projects ― the three-stop Scarborough Subway Extension and the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension. It’s another example that Ontario is getting shovels in the ground and we are delivering on our plan.”

These RFQs outline the scope of work to design, build and finance the construction of tunnels for the three-stop Scarborough subway and Eglinton Crosstown West Extension. To expedite work on these projects, tunnelling will begin first, to be followed by separate contracts for the balance of the work on each project.

Moving forward with tunnelling on Scarborough and Eglinton West marks significant progress for the Province’s plan to build a world-class transportation network where new transit is built faster and at a lower cost, getting people where they want to go when they want to get there.

Quick Facts

• The Scarborough Subway Extension is a nearly 8-kilometre extension of TTC’s Line 2 (Bloor-Danforth), from the existing Kennedy Station northeast to McCowan Road/Sheppard Avenue, with an expected service date by 2029-30.
• The Eglinton Crosstown West Extension is a 9.2-kilometre extension of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT (future TTC Line 5) from the future Mount Dennis station to Renforth Drive, with an expected service date by 2030-31. The extension will run underground, westward from Scarlett Road to Renforth Drive. Through future phases of this project, the Province is committed to establishing connectivity with Pearson International Airport.
• Companies interested in bidding on these tunneling contracts must register with www.merx.com to download the respective RFQs. IO and Metrolinx will evaluate RFQ submissions and shortlist teams to be invited to respond to a Request for Proposals in summer 2020.
• On February 18, Minister Mulroney introduced the Building Transit Faster Act, which would provide the province with the tools to expedite the planning, design and construction process of the four priority transit projects.
• In November 2019, the Ontario-Toronto Transit Partnership was achieved between the Province of Ontario and the City of Toronto, confirming support for the advancement of the four priority transit projects. The Partnership also unlocked billions in state of good repair investments to make immediate improvements to the existing subway network.
• In April 2019, the province announced its historic new transportation vision, with an estimated cost of $28.5 billion. This includes four priority transit projects: the all-new Ontario Line; a three-stop Scarborough Subway Extension; the Yonge North Subway Extension; and the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension.
• These projects, featured in the recent winter market update, are part of the largest commitment to P3 infrastructure in Ontario’s history.