When it comes to leadership on the Toronto region’s transportation file, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Politics trumps progress. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen over the decades, this begets delayed projects and higher costs. Meanwhile our transportation network falls further and further behind the needs of our residents and our economy. There must be a better way.

This month’s debate around the future of the Scarborough line was the latest example. Similar to the debate over the Sheppard line a year earlier, the council session and the province’s reaction to it further exposed critical flaws in how our region’s transportation infrastructure agenda is being managed.

Since the release of The Big Move in 2008, the province and Metrolinx have affirmed their commitment to the Scarborough LRT. It was only last fall that Metrolinx, the city and the TTC formally ratified an $8.4-billion contract to build 52 kilometres of transit lines across the city, including a new Scarborough LRT. The contract took months to hammer out, and its approval allowed Metrolinx to begin the work.

Yet in the midst of a provincial byelection, the province let the city revisit this master agreement and reverse previous council decisions.

Metrolinx wasn’t convinced this was the right thing to do. In late June, it pointed out in a detailed letter to the city and Queen’s Park that a reversal would waste years of work and at least $85-million worth of already incurred costs. The implication in its letter was clear. With projects of this size, no decision or procurement is done in isolation. Changing direction and scope will cause domino effects impacting costs and delivery dates.

Metrolinx cannot and should not trump the democratic process. But if it is to retain its legitimacy in developing the regional transportation plan, it must be able to rely on and enforce signed agreements. It has to protect the taxpayer money that it is being asked to spend. Provincial cabinets and city councils come and go. Nothing will get built if every newly elected cabinet and council weighs in and sends progress in a different direction based on political calculations. It is worse, of course, when councils reverse their previous decision. Politics should not trump progress.

Transit has always been political in Toronto. The creation of Metrolinx was supposed to help take the politics out of the equation. The regional transportation body was created and given a legislative mandate to develop, adopt and implement a region wide transportation plan. Indeed the Metrolinx Act of 2006 specifically mandates it to “ensure the efficient and cost effective resolution of matters of shared concern respecting transportation,” including “the optimal use and location of transportation infrastructure.”

Regional governance models are important for this very reason. That is why they are not unique. A regional approach to planning has proven successful in jurisdictions as diverse as Paris, Chicago, Vancouver and Hong Kong.

These models have outlived political changes over the years. What should be a relatively straightforward process continues to escape us here in the Toronto region. Left on the hook are taxpayers, businesses and residents waiting for much needed infrastructure to be built.

As we have said for the past three years, crushing congestion continues to cost the Toronto region billions of dollars each year in lost productivity and lost economic opportunity.

Using the latest data, the C.D. Howe Institute recently pegged that loss at $7.5 billion to $11 billion.

We must break the political gridlock that continually interrupts the planning and building of improved transportation infrastructure. Toronto Region Board of Trade members believe the expertise and leadership of Metrolinx is needed now more than ever.

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It is incumbent on Metrolinx to work with governments of all levels to advance progress on our regional transportation network. It is also incumbent on all governments to respect signed agreements. Otherwise, projects will continue to stop and start while lines on the map zig and zag and massive amounts of public money are needlessly wasted. Meanwhile our progress will continue to fall further behind our competitors.

Carol Wilding is president and CEO of the Toronto Region Board of Trade.

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