There’s rarely a good way to deliver bad news.

But leave it to the Doug Ford government to find the absolute worst possible way to do something.

On Monday, Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney intended to announce that the province was scrapping Hamilton’s light rail transit project because the estimated cost had risen dramatically. But she couldn’t manage to do even that.

Councillors and citizens, alarmed by the sudden media briefing at a Hamilton hotel, turned up to find out what was happening. Before long, Mulroney cancelled the briefing and essentially ran out the back door under police escort.

That left Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger, who was elected on a pro-light rail platform, to deliver the news. He was understandably furious and let it rip from the podium.

And why not?

This cancellation comes after the premier himself said, “if he wants an LRT, he’s gonna get an LRT.” And the last transportation minister, Jeff Yurek (now the embattled environment minister), assured everyone the project was “good to go” just this spring.

It comes after the provincial transit agency, Metrolinx, spent more than $160 million on the project and people were evicted from their homes and some 60 buildings were bought and boarded up along the planned 14-km, 17-stop route through Hamilton.

And it comes after a new report shows that in the Greater Toronto Horseshoe Area reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, say by getting people out of cars and onto transit, is key to battling climate change.

No wonder Eisenberger called this “a betrayal by the province.”

Mulroney’s explanation, when it eventually did come later in the day, just left more people in other cities wondering if their projects could be next up on the chopping block.

Ontario just couldn’t go ahead with the project because it will cost billions more than originally estimated, Mulroney said. The government believes in delivering transit in a “fiscally responsible manner.”

The list of big government infrastructure projects that come in on budget is practically nonexistent. And when it comes to building transit, billions in cost overruns is more the rule than the exception.

The Ford government also appears to have used some creative accounting, such as including 30 years of operating costs, to claim the Hamilton LRT has risen from $1 billion to $5.5 billion. The jury will remain out on that new figure until the government provides a much fuller account than it has so far.

It’s not hard to believe, though, that the price has risen by some amount, perhaps even a considerable amount.

But if that alone is enough cause to ditch much needed transit, without even having a public conversation about the options, what does that mean for Toronto or Mississauga or Ottawa? Those cities are all relying on provincial funding promises to put rails in the ground.

In Toronto’s case, the province and the city recently cut a deal for a $28.5-billion transit plan. The centrepiece is Ford’s Ontario line, which replaces and expands on the city’s previously planned relief line.

There is still so much unknown about Ford’s “faster, better, cheaper” line, which is to run north to the Ontario Science Centre and west to Exhibition Place, that it is all but certain to rise above, likely well above, its current $11-billion price tag. Indeed, there’s every reason to believe that the Ford government low-balled both the cost and time involved in building that line to make the plan more politically palatable in the first place.

So, if, and more likely when, those numbers rise, will Ford abandon Toronto just as he has abandoned Hamilton? Will his transit minister, whoever it might be then, run out the backdoor and leave Mayor John Tory standing at the podium and Toronto taxpayers and riders paying the consequences?

Certainly Tory, who has worked hard to play nice with Ford on transit, can’t have been feeling particularly good about the way things have played out in Hamilton.

This provincial move to pull the plug on light-rail is terrible for Hamilton. And it’s not at all good for the economic future of the region, which relies in part on finding transit solutions to our gridlocked roads.

And, sadly, it’s the latest evidence of a provincial government that’s all to willing to play with numbers in a quest for cover for questionable policy choices.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

The Ford government uses accounting tricks, adds in things, takes things out or changes the parameters entirely to make numbers say whatever it needs to bolster whatever outcome it wants. Just look at the provincial deficit that balloons and shrinks on Ford’s command.

Monday was a terrible day for Hamilton, which is left with boarded-up buildings instead of the transit it needs. And it doesn’t bode well for the rest of Ontario either.

If Ford is willing to use questionable accounting to pull the plug on Hamilton’s transit, who could be next?

Read more about: