Toronto toll road loss is Peterborough’s gain

Two weeks ago, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne stood under the shelter of a bus depot in Richmond Hill and announced that the City of Toronto’s request for approval of tolls on the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner Expressway was being denied.

Her argument was a convoluted and tortured weaving about the need for suburban drivers to have better and more affordable transit options before they are made to pay for roads, even though her government has introduced toll lanes on one of its own highways in the GTA and has plans for more.

It is unlikely that many suburban drivers would migrate to transit in any event, short of the development of high-speed trains on their own dedicated rights of way, which, for a financially strapped government, is not in the cards. The reason toll roads in Toronto were denied is because drivers in the vote-rich 905 region – where the Premier smartly made her announcement – would be very unhappy. They already have terrible traffic to deal with; paying more for it would just add salt to that wound.

In politics as in life, a spoonful of sugar can sometimes help the medicine go down. In order to mute opposition to her decision, the premier announced a doubling of the share of the annual provincial gasoline tax that is given to municipalities. That will mean an additional $307 million for Ontario cities by 2021-22. In her new role as the friend of cash strapped drivers everywhere, Wynne was quick to add that the provincial cost of gas at the pump is not increasing.

Like it or not, throwing money at a problem can sometimes buy you short term political peace. You give Toronto money instead of toll roads, but you have to give money to all Ontario cities so as not to fall into the trap of showing favouritism to the big smoke at the expense of votes in the rest of the province.

This new transit money is significant. Beginning in 2019, provincial funding to cities for public transit improvements will increase from two cents per litre of provincial gasoline tax revenues to four cents by 2020/2021. This year, the City of Peterborough will receive $1,603,397 – an increase of $1.5 million from last year.

That is a substantial number and it will grow. Just as important is the fact that the gas tax program was made permanent in 2013, meaning that it is a stable source of municipal funding. The city can be expected to use the money for new buses, transit operations and the Handi-Van service.

The county will likely use its money for the accessible Care-Mobile program. As the funding increases, both the city and the county will have new spending options that include infrastructure upgrades, the purchase of transit vehicles, the addition of more routes, the extension of hours of service, improvements to accessibility and fare strategies.

As we capitalize on this new funding, we can thank the vagaries of provincial political decision making and Toronto’s failed toll road request. Their loss has become our gain.

On an unrelated note, the absence of a public recognition by Peterborough city council of the Quebec City mosque massacre is very disappointing. The city’s flag was not lowered to half mast as it has been for other tragedies. Similarly, council met one day after the event but failed to acknowledge its impact on the local Muslim community with a respectful moment of silence.

These omissions are surprising given our own mosque experience; they set us apart from attentive and charitable governing bodies across Canada and around the world.