politics
Duly Quoted: John Tory on Transit Cost Overruns
The mayor shows his angry side.
“Suffice it to say, alongside the people of Toronto, I am furious this happens over and over again.”
—Mayor John Tory responds to cost overruns on the Spadina subway extension, which is reportedly $400 million over budget and two years over schedule. During the campaign, the mayor frequently cited cost overruns on infrastructure projects as a place where the city can do better. The news about the subway project exceeding budget estimates comes three days after city councillors reportedly learned Metrolinx is billing the City an additional $95.4 million for changes to the Union-Pearson Express rail link project, and that the City is also on the hook for an additional $35 million in Union Station cost overruns. This comes in the context of the City borrowing from their capital budget to pay operating expenses, even though their capital budget, which is used to pay for big-ticket infrastructure projects and does not yet budget for SmartTrack, effectively has no room for additional debt in 2020 unless Council votes to break through its self-imposed debt ceiling. When asked whether he was worried about the budget estimates for the proposed Scarborough subway extension, for which the City is responsible for all cost overruns, Tory said he didn’t think the Spadina subway extension overruns had anything to do with the proposed project in Scarborough.