TORONTO

Mayor John Tory got a rough ride from transit workers at a TTC town hall meeting on Monday.

While some transit employees heckled Tory, one accused the mayor of lying to them and the crowd chanted “keep transit public” during a tour of the D. W. Harvey Shop at the TTC’s Hillcrest complex.

Tory was asked about the Eglinton Crosstown LRT and whether he supports a provincial plan that would see maintenance of the new line contracted out. Although the TTC will operate Metrolinx’s Eglinton LRT for the first 10 years after it opens, the province is currently in the process of finding a contractor to design, build, finance, and maintain the Crosstown service.

As Tory stressed he believes in “public transportation,” the workers started chanting, “Keep transit public!”

“Message received,” Tory told the workers.

A man then shouted at Tory, “Don’t lie to us!”

“Have I told a lie today here at all?” Tory replied.

“Yeah, you have,” the man insisted.

“I don’t think so,” Tory said before taking more questions.

After the meeting, Tory said he was glad to hear from TTC staff.

“I hope to address (their concerns) to some extent but you can never satisfy all the people, all of the time,” Tory said.

The mayor emphasized his proposed 2015 budget includes almost $100 million in improved and restored transit service along with the addition of around 800 TTC jobs.

“What we’re doing right now is investing in public transportation — $100 million proposed in the budget to buy new buses, restore services that were cut, hire new drivers and do a lot of things that are going to make life better for the people in the city and I’m very proud of that,” he said.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 president Bob Kinnear, president of Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 113, said the union wants Tory and TTC Chair Josh Colle to fight the privatization of public transit.

“We’re concerned about privatizing transit, it is a public service that should be delivered publicly,” Kinnear said after the meeting. “The facts are on our side, nobody does it better than our maintenance workers here at the TTC.”

Kinnear dismissed Tory’s proposed $100 million budget increase for transit.

“When you’ve got $100 million, it’s like a Band-Aid on a gaping wound,” Kinnear said. “At the same time, they’re talking about privatizing the Eglinton Crosstown which potentially could cost billions of dollars over the next three years.”

don.peat@sunmedia.ca

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