Mayor John Tory is pushing ahead with a multibillion transit agreement with the province, despite claims that it saddles the city with a disproportionate amount of the costs of expanding the transit network, and will compel the municipality to foot the bill for Ontario’s regional rail plan.

At a special meeting of Tory’s executive committee Tuesday afternoon, councillors in the mayor’s inner circle voted to approve the deal, which would make the city responsible for all of the capital costs of the SmartTrack project that was the cornerstone of Tory’s mayoral campaign.

It would also commit the city to the annual operating and maintenance costs for as-yet-unfinished LRT lines, estimated to be tens of millions of dollars a year, and millions more in expenses to bolster the province’s GO Transit regional express rail (RER) plan.

Before the vote, Tory said he was carrying out his mandate to bring more transit to Toronto. “We’re moving a transit plan forward in partnership with the other governments. That is certainly one of the main things that I thought I was sent here to do,” he said.

Tory said he was confident the agreement would be approved when it goes to council next week. The province has set a Nov. 30 deadline for the city to commit to SmartTrack costs.

But while the decision at Tory’s hand-picked executive was unanimous, councillors at opposite ends of the political spectrum criticized the deal.

One sticking point was the capital costs for SmartTrack, which are estimated at $3.7 billion. The bulk of that, or $2.5 billion, is to pay for the Eglinton West LRT, which would replace the western portion of the express rail line Tory pitched during the campaign.

Toronto city staff are hoping to reduce the city’s share of the $3.7 billion bill for SmartTrack down to $2 billion by securing contributions from the federal government, city of Mississauga and the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, but those contributions aren’t assured and would still leave the city paying over $1 billion for the Eglinton West LRT.

John Campbell, a fiscally conservative councillor representing Etobicoke Centre, questioned why council would agree to spend so much on the line when Toronto has more pressing transit needs.

“Why are we being asked to invest $1.1 billion on what is ostensibly a low-priority line, given all of the other considerations?” he asked.

As part of the proposed deal, the city would contribute significantly to GO infrastructure projects, including: $60 million toward building two new stations on the Barrie line; $95.5 million for work on the Georgetown South corridor; and $62.25 million in order to cover 15 per cent of the cost of converting level crossings on GO lines to grade separations.

Those projects would support implementation of the province’s RER plan, to which SmartTrack has effectively been grafted. The most recent version of the mayor’s plan calls for six new stations branded as SmartTrack stops on the Stoufville/Lakeshore East and Kitchener GO lines.

Councillor Gord Perks (Ward 14, Parkdale—High Park), who has been critical of Tory’s administration, said if the deal is approved, the city would end up paying an unfair amount for regional GO service that would benefit people outside Toronto.

“Why we’re paying for things that are designed to serve other parts of the GTA just so we can label part of RER as SmartTrack, I don’t really see how that’s a sell I can make to my constituents,” he said.

In addition to paying capital costs for new transit lines, the deal would also commit the city to paying for operation and day-to-day maintenance costs of new LRT lines built by the province, including the Eglinton Crosstown.

The city would also pay for operation and maintenance of the Eglinton West LRT and any rail service to SmartTrack stations the province wasn’t already planning under RER. City staff don’t yet know how much SmartTrack RER service will cost.

Councillor Janet Davis (Ward 31, Beaches-East York) predicted that operating the new lines could put a huge burden on the city’s budget and argued that the city already struggles to operate TTC service.

“We cannot at this point sustain the existing network of transit. Our fare- paying residents are paying the greatest share of the operating costs of a transit system anywhere. And now we’re going to ask them to pay more,” she said.

The mayor and proponents of the deal say that it’s a reasonable price to pay for provincial transit projects. Queen’s Park is spending $3.7 billion on GO corridors in Toronto to electrify trains and enable more frequent service for RER. The province has also committed $7.8 billion for LRT lines.

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Most of the city’s costs laid out in the agreement wouldn’t start mounting for several years, but if council approves the deal it would commit to spending $71 million over two years on planning, design and other pre-construction work associated with SmartTrack.

After a meeting with Premier Kathleen Wynne on Tuesday morning, both leaders praised the deal. Tory said the agreement would mean that Toronto is contributing its “fair share.”

“But I would say to those people who have nothing but criticism about plans that I’m putting forward — what’s their plan? Because at the moment they don’t have a plan. They’re just content to criticize the plan that I’m putting forward. And my plan is based on one simple proposition — we need to build transit and we need to build it now.”

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