Beef up GO, or we won’t grow — Halton

Chair also wants money for roads, health

Smart growth may be the new religion among regional planners, but Halton Chair Gary Carr says he’s not going to church if the province doesn’t fund transit, roads, public health and other infrastructure to serve his region’s growing population.

Halton officials will just say no to provincially mandated growth targets if Queen’s Park doesn’t deliver the services — including allday, two-way GO trains.

The region of about 500,000 residents is supposed to take on an additional 250,000 in the next 20 years.

“There’s wording i n our approved plan that says we will proceed only if we get complete communities. That means the funding from the province, not only for things like Metrolinx, but for schools and provincial highways,” said Carr, who’s prepared to fight the province in court if necessary.

On Wednesday, Halton council is expected to endorse a resolution already adopted by its planning and public works committee. This would send a warning to Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Linda Jeffery that there won’t be any more residential development beyond the current round if Metrolinx doesn’t improve transit to the region.

Metrolinx had originally slated all-day service for Halton on the Kitchener and Milton GO lines in the first 15 years of its 25-year Big Move transportation plan. But the updated plan pushes the GO expansion to the list of projects in a 16- to 25-year window.

Besides more GO trains to Mil- ton and Georgetown, Carr said, he wants Metrolinx to reinstate plans for another GO station on Trafalgar Road and it wants the Lakeshore West GO line electrified so it can deliver 15-minute express service.

If the province moves ahead with taxes to pay for transit, Halton residents will be “sending the equivalent of $150 million per year for 15-plus years before the region sees any transit upgrades from Metrolinx,” said Milton Councillor Colin Best.

He estimates Milton — Halton’s fastest growing community — has about 10,000 more cars than it did four years ago.

Meantime, most of the projects on Metrolinx’s near-term plan are in Toronto, said Carr, who notes his region is also struggling with an $8.7-million shortfall in provincial funding for public health and paramedic services. It is also failing to capture $7 million in development charges because of provincially mandated exemptions.

GO service and a proposed widening of Highway 401 to reduce congestion are vital if the region is going to remain competitive. GO’s Lakeshore service and the region’s proximity to highways has helped Halton attract major warehouses for Target and Lowe’s, technology giant Siemens and a new Price Waterhouse office, he said.

Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig said he supports the desire for expanded GO service to Milton.

But the Milton corridor is a CP Rail mainline, which means “significant infrastructure needs to be built so CP can continue to operate its core service.”