Why not get all the facts?

What don’t Toronto city councillors want to know about the controversial plan to extend the subway into Scarborough?

Why are they so determined not to find out all they can about a project that’s now estimated to cost $3.35 billion — and in all likelihood will end up costing considerably more?

We ask in the wake of Toronto council’s decision this week to yet again reject a so-called value-for-money study of the project.

Councillor Josh Matlow put forward a motion that would have directed the city’s auditor-general to conduct a side-by-side 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.

Matlow framed his request in the simplest of terms. “Before we invest billions of dollars,” he said, “we should have the most relevant, basic facts in front of us about whether or not there is value for every dollar invested.”

Makes sense. But councillors quickly came back with their answer: we don’t want to know. By a vote of 13-27 they rejected the idea of a thorough cost analysis. It was the second time they’ve done that.

Of course, there’s really no mystery. The majority of councillors, plus a lot of other politicians at all levels of government, long ago made a political decision to bring the subway to Scarborough no matter what.

It doesn’t matter that a subway line — especially the one-stop version that’s now on the table — isn’t the best way to improve transit for most people in Scarborough. Especially for the lower-income neighbourhoods that could be reached by a more extensive LRT line with far more stops.

It doesn’t matter that the cost keeps rising even as the promised service gets cut back (from three stops to just one now). The estimated cost of $3.35 billion is bound to rise — city staff say it might be as much as 50-per-cent higher, or just over $5 billion.

The work needed to make a better estimate will be done next year, but it isn’t scheduled to be made public until a staff report to city council is issued early in 2019. In other words, the city plans to sit on vital information about the cost of this crucial project until after the October, 2018, municipal election.

At the very least, that should be changed. Voters deserve to have the fullest information possible when they vote. If the cost of the subway extension changes, let’s know at the earliest possible date.

There’s a clear pattern here. Councillors seem determined to make sure the public finds out the least amount possible about the Scarborough extension plan.

They don’t want a thorough study of how it would stack up against the light-rail alternative. And they’re going along with a schedule that will delay publication of updated cost estimates for the subway extension as long as possible.

In other words, they don’t want to know — and they don’t want voters to know.

There is, in fact, an argument for extending the Bloor-Danforth subway line into Scarborough. Karen Stintz, former chair of the TTC, made it this week in thestar.com. She asked why new subway stops in York Region are being hailed while there’s vocal opposition to bringing that service to Scarborough, with its 600,000 residents. It isn’t fair, she said.

Fine — there’s certainly a case to be made for transit equity. But it shouldn’t be made in a state of ignorance. It’s unconscionable for city council to deny itself and the public the fullest possible information on such a costly plan.

In the end, the politicians get to decide. But they — and we — should know what trade-offs are involved and what we’ll end up paying for the choices they make.

What don’t Toronto city councillors want to know about the controversial plan to extend the subway into Scarborough?