Release new costs

Supposedly the city of Toronto is an open democracy where politicians make fact-based decisions in a transparent manner that voters can then judge them on at election time.

But you wouldn’t know that from council’s antics on the planned Scarborough subway extension.

Though TTC documents suggest new estimates of the cost of the one-stop boondoggle will be available in September, city staff say they aren’t due to be reported until the first council meeting slated after that, in January 2019.

But clearly this is information voters should have before they go to the polls on Oct. 22.

Mayor John Tory, an outspoken proponent of the extension, and his colleagues on council should commit to making the figures public before the vote.

After all, the projected cost of the extension is no small detail. The latest numbers put the price tag anywhere from $3.35 billion to $5.02 billion — and estimates keep rising.

Those, like the mayor, who continue to support the widely derided project should have to defend their position to voters based on the most up-to-date facts. Yet councillors have not always seemed willing to do that. As recently as December, council would not even agree to a sensible motion put forth by Councillor Josh Matlow calling for a value-for-money study of the project by the city’s auditor general. That would have had Beverly Romeo-Beehler conduct a side-byside comparison of the costs and benefits of the one-stop subway plan and the alternative proposal to build a new light-rail line into Scarborough. Surely voters and policy-makers alike would benefit from such evidence.

Yet it’s no wonder the project’s proponents don’t seem to want more information to emerge. Study after study has cast doubt on the extension’s merits, particularly as the need for a downtown relief line becomes increasingly apparent. A Metrolinx business case analysis, for instance, found it was “not a worthwhile use of money,” and numerous other studies have shown it will not attract enough new riders to justify the investment. Nor will it serve the low-income neighbourhoods the earlier planned LRT line would have.

As the city’s former chief planner, Jennifer Keesmaat, said this week, city staff have a “duty” to report the updated cost of the Scarborough subway to the public before the election.

And especially given our leaders’ obscurantism on the issue, the city’s auditor general should go ahead and conduct the analysis that council chose not to request of her. She doesn’t need permission.

There is no reasonable excuse to keep voters blindfolded on this important issue in the lead-up to the election. Mayor Tory and his colleagues on council should insist that the information be released as soon as it is available. Those who support this dubious project should not be allowed to pander to Scarborough voters without being held to account by the city at large.