New chief planner Gregg Lintern told a Bay Street audience there “may be evidence that suggests” the Scarborough subway is “not the best way to spend money.”

“That can be debated and will continue to be debated,” Lintern said.

The comments were made during an onstage discussion with the Globe and Mail’s Marcus Gee on Wednesday morning that followed Lintern’s first major speech as chief planner at the Toronto Region Board of Trade. A veteran city planner, Lintern was tapped for the top job in March.

In that new role, Lintern now has oversight of planning for the controversial one-stop Scarborough subway, which would extend the Bloor-Danforth line six kilometres to a new stop at the Scarborough Town Centre. It’s currently estimated to cost $3.35 billion based on very little design work.

“My time has been spent, frankly and honestly, on working on what we’re going to do at Scarborough Centre,” Lintern said of the area around the new stop that has seen little growth compared to the city’s other hubs that have been designated for growth.

In 2013, council under Rob Ford’s administration scrapped plans to build a fully-funded and already-approved, seven-stop light rail line. Both the subway and LRT options would replace the aging Scarborough RT, which will be torn down.

Mayor John Tory, who is facing re-election in October, vowed this week to get the subway built while promising more rapid transit in Scarborough that isn’t yet funded as a result of the subway’s rising costs.

There is currently $3.56 billion from three levels of government dedicated to transit in Scarborough. The federal and provincial governments recently announced a combined $9 billion for Toronto transit, which includes the Scarborough subway funds that were earlier committed. The city’s five priority projects competing for those funds total at least $17.4 billion.

Lintern said he is focused on remaking Scarborough Centre to support a future transit line, which could require “pioneering” moves to create new office and other institutional development.

“In the life of the city, I think you see a lot of discussion . . . you see a lot of tension between evidence and aspiration,” Lintern said. “And that in a way summarizes the Scarborough subway debate.”

Council must still vote to move forward with construction of a subway. That’s not expected to happen until early 2019.

Before Tory’s executive committee next week, is a request from Councillor Josh Matlow, who has long advocated for a network of LRTs, for a judicial inquiry of the problematic subway planning process.

The Star's Jennifer Pagliaro on the lack of information and misinformation council was provided about the Scarborough subway in light of the request for a public inquiry.

After his speech, which focused on opportunities for growth in the suburbs, Lintern told reporters he has not assessed that planning process, saying staff have not been asked to do that.

There has never been a study presented to council about whether the subway represents good value-for-money compared to the light-rail alternative. Staff have never been directed to do that work.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“They’ve reviewed and seen a lot of material and a lot of reports,” Lintern said. Asked if what’s in front of council is more aspirational then evidence-based, Lintern said: “I think it’s both.”

A draft analysis produced in 2013 by staff at Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency that was responsible for building the LRT before it was cancelled, found the subway was “not a worthwhile use of money” compared to the LRT. That work was never published.

On Wednesday, Ontario PC Party leader Doug Ford promised a return to a three-stop subway plan if elected this June. The most recent cost estimate for the three-stop version is $4.6 billion.

Read more about: