The federal government confirmed Monday it would commit more than $1 billion to two Toronto transit projects — one of which is Mayor John Tory’s SmartTrack — but even with that money on the table the precise fate of the mayor’s signature rail plan remains unclear.

Federal Infrastructure Minister François-Phillipe Champagne was joined in Scarborough by Tory and a large delegation of federal, provincial and municipal officials to announce Ottawa has agreed to help fund major capacity improvements at Bloor-Yonge station and the construction of the six new GO Transit stations that make up the mayor’s SmartTrack plan.

Under the agreement, Ottawa will commit $585 million to the SmartTrack stations program, and $500 million for upgrades to Bloor-Yonge.

“When there is a consensus on all part of three orders of governments and concrete proposals on the table, we get things done,” Champagne said.

“Let’s seize the moment to invest together in better transit in the GTA region.”

The money is not new but would come from the Public Transit Infrastructure Fund detailed in the federal Liberals’ 2017 budget. About $5 billion was earmarked for Toronto transit projects.

Tory described the funding as a “milestone” that would help build two “critical pieces of Toronto’s infrastructure.”

“They will both allow us to meet the needs of Torontonians now — better late than never — but also in the years to come,” he said.

The mayor asserted “there is no reason” the SmartTrack stations couldn’t be under construction by 2020, and open by 2024.

Despite securing funding for SmartTrack, uncertainty continues to swirl around the plan as a result of provincial policy changes.

Council voted in April 2018 to build the stations, but Premier Doug Ford has since announced plans to construct a 15.5-kilometre rail line spanning Toronto called the Ontario Line, and to scrap the council-approved single-stop Scarborough subway extension and revert to an earlier three-stop version.

The Ontario Line would have stops at Exhibition, East Harbour and Gerrard-Carlaw, all of which would be close to or overlap with proposed locations for SmartTrack stops.

The three-stop Scarborough subway extension could include a station at Lawrence Ave., a short distance from another proposed SmartTrack stop. Previous analysis by city planners determined the Lawrence subway station would cannibalize ridership at the SmartTrack station, which was a factor behind the city reducing the subway plan from three stops to one.

A June city staff report warned the province’s new plans could “impact the case for, or design of” SmartTrack stations, and “detailed travel demand modelling” would be required to determine the effects.

The city has yet to publish such an analysis. According to city spokesperson Brad Ross, it will be included in a staff report to council in the fall.

Tory downplayed concerns Monday about how his plan would fit with the province’s and suggested the important thing is getting projects completed.

“I’ve yet to run into the first person in the city of Toronto that comes up to me to tell me we’re building too much transit,” he said.

The mayor said the province and city are in ongoing discussions about their plans and if issues arise “we’ll take that into account as time goes on.”

Even before the premier announced his new transit plans in April, there were significant questions about how SmartTrack would be executed.

The mayor’s plan would add stations within Toronto on existing GO Transit lines, and relies heavily on the province’s plan to expand the GO network by increasing service frequency and building new stops throughout the region.

Last year Metrolinx, the arms-length provincial agency in charge of transportation for the GTA, announced it was removing new GO stations, including the SmartTrack stops, from the procurement package it sent out to tender for GO expansion.

Instead of funding the construction of new stations directly, the agency would seek contributions from private developers in exchange for development rights nearby.

It doesn’t appear that the city or Metrolinx have reached so-called “transit-oriented development” deals to pay for any SmartTrack stations.

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“Metrolinx is currently developing an implementation plan for their transit-oriented development strategy and will be engaging the city in this process,” Ross said in an email.

Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins said the agency has “engaged with the market to solicit developers’ interest” and is “in the process of reviewing” submissions.

She didn’t confirm the mayor’s assertion that station construction could start next year, saying “timelines will depend on when the developer can complete the work.”

She said government funding could be used to pay for SmartTrack stops if development deals don’t materialize, and reiterated that Metrolinx is “committed to building SmartTrack.”

Tory said Monday it was a “worthwhile idea” to seek out developers to help fund new stops, but the required development may not be “applicable” at all locations.

In those cases, “it’s time to just get on with building those stations,” he said. He described the federal funding as a backstop if development money didn’t come through.

The six stations have been estimated to cost $1.46 billion, which after the federal contribution would leave the city on the hook for $878 million. However, that price tag assumed no funding from transit-oriented development.

The 2024 timeline Tory gave for completing the six stations is about three years later than he promised during the 2014 campaign. At the time, he promised SmartTrack would have 22 stations and be done in seven years, but elements of the original plan proved unfeasible and it has been whittled down to a half dozen new stops.

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Councillor Gord Perks (Ward 4, Parkdale-High Park), a frequent critic of the mayor’s transit plans, said the confirmation of federal funding for SmartTrack won’t mean much until Metrolinx confirms details such as how frequently GO service to the stations will operate, and until an assessment is done to understand how the province’s new plans would work with the projects council approved.

“It’s pre-election money for a network that we haven’t even settled on,” Perks said.

“We have two different network plans. We have the council-approved network plan, and the provincial network plan, and the two are not compatible.”

However, Perks agreed that federal funding for the Bloor-Yonge project is an “unqualified win.”

The federal government will contribute roughly half of the $1.1 billion required to increase capacity at the interchange station, which is the TTC’s busiest.

Included in the planned work is building an additional platform for Line 2 trains, modifying the Line 1 platform, and adding stairs, escalators and elevators.

The station is used by more than 200,000 people a day, and crowding has become a safety risk. A city staff report released in April said the expansion project is required by 2028 to meet projected passenger volumes.

Ben Spurr is a Toronto-based reporter covering transportation. Reach him by email at bspurr@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @BenSpurr

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