Mayor John Tory is stepping up his defence of the increasingly costly Scarborough subway he promised to build, ahead of a new round of questions at his executive committee on Tuesday.

The $3.2-billion one-stop extension is part of a network plan that remains largely unfunded. It’s expected to draw criticism from councillors outside the mayor’s inner circle as the committee also takes its first shot at debating new taxes and fees to raise badly needed revenue.

Tory is now publicly casting doubt on the original plan for a seven-stop LRT, touted by some councillors as a better alternative, questioning whether it “remains feasible.”

Speaking alongside Premier Kathleen Wynne after a regular meeting Monday, Tory acknowledged that original estimates for the three-stop plan he campaigned to build were not “honest,” but he insisted the revised and still-controversial project must proceed regardless.

“The change that has taken place in price has only to do with the fact that the initial price was not one that was carefully thought through,” Tory told reporters. “Now we’re being honest with people and straightforward about what the cost is going to be.”

Critics argue a better option is the previously approved LRT, which would connect the Scarborough Town Centre to the subway system and extend to Sheppard Ave., with a $1.48-billion price tag footed wholly by the province.

In an opinion piece published by the Star online and in print on Tuesday, Tory argues it’s unclear what the “real aftermath” of reverting to the seven-stop LRT would be, or whether it would “have the support of Metrolinx and our government partners.”

But a signed master agreement that includes a commitment to pay for converting the aging Scarborough RT into an LRT is still in effect, according to a June 16 email from city spokesperson Wynna Brown.

“The master agreement between the city and Metrolinx remains in place,” Brown wrote. “It requires amendment which will be done at the appropriate juncture, pending the outcome of council decisions.”

The agreement, which covers several LRT projects including the Eglinton Crosstown, would need to be amended to remove the Scarborough LRT.

Metrolinx also confirmed the LRT is still an option for council. “It would be within the city’s purview to return to a seven-stop Scarborough LRT,” said spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins.

As to feasibility, Metrolinx confirmed the LRT would still work in the existing SRT corridor, which runs parallel to GO Transit’s Stouffville line.

Aikins said plans for GO service expansion and electrification — Regional Express Rail, or RER — involve double-tracking the Stouffville line to run frequent trains. She said those plans do not affect the Scarborough RT corridor or the possibility of running an LRT in its place.

TTC project manager Gary Carr earlier told the Star he had assurances from the province that RER plans would not affect the SRT corridor.

A July 2014 assessment of the Stouffville line found the province’s expansion plans would be “compatible” with an LRT. Aikins confirmed the LRT would not have required any properties to be expropriated.

The current subway plan, if aligned on McCowan Ave., may require some property to be expropriated, which has angered residents on a quiet, family-friendly street.

An issue Tory does not raise but which has yet to be addressed fully is the lack of space to build more than one station at the Lawrence Ave. East underpass, where there is currently an SRT stop.

Since Tory’s own promise of local heavy-rail service — known as SmartTrack — proposes a stop at Lawrence on the Stouffville line, it may not be possible to build an LRT stop at Lawrence as planned. Detailed work on station construction and design related to the SmartTrack stop has not been completed, the city says.

Wynne — who must call a byelection in Scarborough-Rouge River soon to fill a vacancy created by the abrupt resignation of former MPP Bas Balkissoon in March — also made her support for a subway clear Monday.

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“We want to move ahead and get those projects built, because the more quickly we can do that the better off the economic health of the region is going to be,” she told reporters at Queen’s Park.

“I have always deferred to city council in terms of the plans, and I will say, though, the more often we change direction, the more often we scrap a plan and start all over again, the more expensive that is and the more time it costs.”

Tory claimed that reverting to the LRT plan would see costs incurred for lost work from three years of planning for a subway extension, which council approved in 2013.

That subway planning would indeed become irrelevant. But unlike the $85 million the city must pay to the province for its work on the scrapped LRT plan, the subway planning was completed by city employees and the city-subsidized TTC.

As the Star earlier reported, and Tory acknowledged last week, with only 5 per cent of the subway design work completed, the cost of the subway could continue to climb.

Building a subway also puts the city on the hook to pay operating and maintenance costs that the province would have paid under the LRT agreement. Those future subway costs are estimated at $18 billion over the subway’s 60-year life cycle.

In his letter, Tory admits he has “struggled” with the subway debate, but now that he has considered the one-stop extension with an “open mind” he has found “compelling reasons to proceed.”

“Those who fight to move backwards must ask themselves where that journey ends.”

Though the next step on the transit network plan is likely to get the green light on Tuesday, subway opponents, including executive committee member Paul Ainslie (Ward 43, Scarborough East), say there are still many important questions unanswered.

For the same cost as building the single subway stop, critics say, the city could build much more transit for Scarborough. The extra funds could be used toward building a $1.7-billion LRT line with up to 17 stops along Eglinton Ave. East, connecting to the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus. With the subway now eating up most of the available $3.56 billion, that proposed line is now in limbo.

“I don’t think it does anything for anyone’s reputation if we don’t have a wholesome discussion about it,” Ainslie said. “I would hope my colleagues would give it more due diligence tomorrow than just a passing glance.”

With files from Rob Ferguson

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