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Reading Monday’s news, wherein TTC Chair Karen Stintz takes the entirely reasonable position that burying an LRT line underneath Eglinton Avenue outside the core of the city is a waste of money, the major frustration isn’t so much the conflict between Ms. Stintz’s position and Rob Ford’s well-known belief that light rail at grade is pure evil. The major frustration is the image of proponents of a full-fledged Eglinton subway line circling the conflict like vultures awaiting carrion.

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Ms. Stintz herself didn’t help matters with this quote in The Globe and Mail: “If the decision is to go with an LRT, it should be at-grade. If there’s a decision to put it underground, it should be a subway.” I suspect this isn’t what she meant, but on that principle the entire current plan for Eglinton should be flushed down the toilet. Which would be an utter disaster.

There are perfectly sound arguments to be made for an Eglinton subway. Once, they won the day. So we dug a hole, then filled it in when the funding got cancelled. This is an extremely welcome reminder that funding can get cancelled, so for God’s sake get your shovels in the ground as fast as you can.