Transport Minister Murray strikes again

Points to former Metrolinx chair for promise of LRT funding

Could it be Murray is such a trigger-happy enthusiast for mass transit that his passion sometimes trumps details and facts?

Glen Murray is at it again.

Fresh from blaming city council for dragging its feet on light trail transit, Ontario’s transportation minister has now fingered former Metrolinx chair Rob MacIsaac as the guy who promised 100 per cent funding to Hamilton.

Murray claimed MacIsaac was behind the controversial commitment in a Saturday Twitter conversation with a Hamilton resident.

“It was a commitment made by Rob MacIsaac, chair of MLX at the time,” the minister tweeted.

The problem is, like last week’s claim about pressing for a meeting with council to seal a rapid transit deal, Murray is sounding like an acrobat who may have landed on his noggin once too often.

MacIsaac, now president and CEO of Hamilton Health Sciences, never said any such thing. Quite the opposite, in fact.

MacIsaac, who saw Murray’s tweet, contents himself with a mild email response:

“The Spectator has me on record from an ed board meeting years ago saying that Hamilton should be setting aside some money for LRT. At the time, I saw it as a prudent action and, in retrospect, was probably good advice.”

He’s correct. As chair of Metrolinx from 2006 to the end of 2008, MacIsaac did tell the paper’s editorial board in the fall of 2008 that the agency would only be funding “bare bones” rapid transit lines and that Hamilton should be putting money away for capital upgrades.

Why Murray seems to think it was MacIsaac who fuelled this city’s high hopes for 100 per cent capital funding for the $800-million LRT project is a mystery, much like his call last week for more clarity on council’s position and his claim he’s pushing for an agreement.

Both were l aughed to scorn by councillors. There’s no record of the latter and council’s position on full capital funding with no strings attached is as steady as a pilot light.

Unfortunately, this is neither the first nor second time Murray has stirred up our already murky LRT waters.

In early 2013, the minister apologized after saying Hamilton would not be expected to make a capital contribution for LRT. Backtracking, he said the city would, in f act, have to fund some of the project through new “fiscal tools,” which were being developed by Metrolinx at the time — all of which council later rejected.

Could it be Murray is such a trigger-happy enthusiast for mass transit that his passion sometimes trumps details and facts? Possibly.

But at least his latest gaffe raises the legitimate question of where the belief in full capital funding stems from.

It first surf aced as a hope in 2007 when the $17billion Move Ontario 2020 transit plan for the GTHA was unveiled, which included rapid transit lines for Hamilton. That plan was fleshed out into Metrolinx’s Big Move, with its list of priorities and first and second wave projects.

From that point on, there was speculation, expectation and numerous attempts to pin down Metrolinx and its political masters for a definitive answer. In a 2010 visit to Hamilton, then premier Dalton McGuinty said it was too soon to say if the city would get light rail funding, but it was “obviously at the top of the list.” But even then it wasn’t clear if McGuinty was talking full funding from general provincial revenues or partial with a Hamilton contribution.

The elusive $800-million question was finally brought to ground in October 2011 by John Howe, Metrolinx vice-president of investment strategy, during an appearance before council.

Asked directly by Lloyd Ferguson if the province or Metrolinx would fund LRT 100 per cent, Howe drew a breath and answered:

“Through the chair, 100 per cent capital funding is the current Metrolinx funding assumption. … That’s our current funding assumption for the Hamilton LRT project.”

Unfortunately, in the euphoria of the moment, some councillors may have missed both the key word “assumption” and Howe’s later ominous comment about developing revenue tools for the next wave of projects, including Hamilton’s. Andrew Dreschel’s commentary appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. adreschel@thespec.com 905-526-3495