A coalition of transit, environmental and health advocacy groups is calling on Metrolinx to improve its governance practices as the agency conducts public consultations on its new $45-billion regional transportation plan.

Twelve groups including Environmental Defence Canada, the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario, the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, the David Suzuki Foundation and Transport Action Ontario have co-signed a letter to Metrolinx denouncing what the organizations say is the agency’s “lack of evidence-based decision making.”

Citing the controversial Scarborough subway extension as well as the approval two proposed new GO Transit stations that weren’t supported by internal reports, the coalition is calling for Metrolinx to “restore confidence in transit planning” by changing its governance structure.

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Metrolinx is an arms-length agency of the provincial government in charge of regional transportation, and its board is made up of unelected officials appointed on the recommendation of the transportation minister.

The groups want that modified so that at least half of the board members are elected officials from municipalities in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

“It is time to make decision-making more transparent and accountable,” said Peter Miasek, a spokesperson for Transport Action Ontario, a non-governmental advocacy group.

The coalition is also recommending Metrolinx endorse revenue tools to raise money for the transportation plan, prioritize low-carbon mobility options and better align land use and transportation policies to discourage urban sprawl.

Tim Gray, the executive director of Environmental Defence Canada, said though the groups are from disparate backgrounds, they came together because “regional transportation is so determinative . . . on what happens to the environment, but also human health and overall prosperity of the city.”

As the Star has previously reported, the ministry of transportation pressured Metrolinx into approving the Kirby and Lawrence East GO Transit stops even though a report the agency commissioned recommended that neither be considered for at least 10 years

Toronto city council was responsible for approving the one-stop $3.35-billion Scarborough subway extension. But the project is being built with the help of provincial funding, and Miasek charged that Metrolinx “enabled” council’s decision by “not standing up” to the city.

Anne Marie Aikins, a spokesperson for Metrolinx, said the agency “welcome(s) the feedback received by this group of experts,” but she declined to comment on the details of the recommendations.

In the wake of the controversy surrounding the two GO stations, Metrolinx has pledged to enhance its accountability policies. The agency has said that from now on it will publish business cases for transit projects before board votes, and will also post notices and minutes of closed-door board meetings.

A report on formal changes to the agency’s governance is expected to go before the board in December.

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Metrolinx released the latest draft of its regional transportation plan in September, and has been holding public consultations across the GTHA for the past month. The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday evening at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

The plan lays out a blueprint for transportation projects across the region for the next 25 years, by which time the population of the GTHA is expected to reach 10.1 million. To keep pace with that growth, the document envisions the construction of more than 1,500 kilometres of rapid-transit infrastructure over the next two-and-a-half decades.

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