Wynne forces Tory’s toll plan off the road
Pledge of additional transit funding undercuts need to charge drivers on DVP, Gardiner
Premier Kathleen Wynne is slamming the brakes on Toronto Mayor John Tory’s plan to toll the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner Expressway by pledging additional transit funding, the Star has learned.
Wynne is to announce Friday at a Richmond Hill bus yard that the provincial government will not give Toronto council permission to impose the levies on the two city-owned highways.
At the same time, the premier will outline “hundreds of millions of dollars” in new money annually for municipalities with public transit systems.
“We’re trying to help people get ahead and stay ahead — even a toll of $20 more a week is not affordable for Ontario families,” an official confided.
“The province is indicating that there can’t be a conversation about tolling while other options (for commuters) are unavailable,” the insider said Thursday.
That effectively means tolling Toronto highways is off the table until Tory’s “SmartTrack” regional express rail expansion is up and running in about 2023.
With Finance Minister Charles Sousa set to finally balance the books this spring, Queen’s Park is flush and can afford more for transit — over and above the $31.5 billion Wynne has promised provincewide over 10 years.
The cash infusion to the treasury is enabling the province to double the share of gasoline tax revenue for municipalities.
Last month, Toronto council overwhelmingly backed Tory’s move to impose road tolls on the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway, two of the region’s busiest arteries, and use the proceeds for transit.
“I made an honest choice after careful consideration, an honest choice. Because the dishonest choice is to say, let’s just do nothing and hope for the best,” the mayor said Dec. 13.
Although Wynne and Tory are political allies, it is unclear whether the province will be able to come up with the $160 million to $300 million annually that tolls of $2 or more per trip could bring in.
The mayor is not scheduled to attend the premier’s announcement in Richmond Hill.
“Toronto city council sent a very clear message: We have a plan to make much-needed investments in transit that will help fix traffic congestion in Toronto and throughout the region,” the mayor’s office said in a statement Thursday night.
“If the Ontario government has decided to deny a regulatory change requested by the overwhelming majority of city council, the mayor would expect the provincial government to take serious and immediate action to address the city’s transit, transportation, childcare and housing needs.” Although Wynne had publicly backed Tory’s plan, many Liberals are anxious about it with an election looming on June 7, 2018.
“If Mayor Tory and his council determine that they would like to embark on a tolling of certain roads — local roads in the city of Toronto — then we will work with them,” the premier said Dec. 7.
“Because I think that it’s important that they have the ability to raise the money to augment (provincial funding), because we’re investing billions of dollars in Toronto,” she said at the time.
“If there’s more that they need to do, they need to find resources to do that and we need to co-operate with them as they make those decisions.”
But both Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath are opposed to Toronto being allowed to toll highways, meaning Wynne might have to pay for it politically next year.
Inside the Liberal caucus it has been as explosive an issue as the rising hydro bills that the government, which trails the Tories in public opinion polls, is moving to address.
“The fastest way for us to lose next year’s election is to let Tory put a toll on the Gardiner,” warned one MPP from a riding in the 905 region.
“He’ll get the money, we’ll get the blame.”