Let’s assume we want to do the right thing in replacing the orphan Scarborough RT line. What to decide?

The RT is to be mothballed and replaced as soon as possible. It’s being held in place till after the Pan Am Games. You could make a good case to replace it with an LRT, or a subway. The case for an LRT appears better positioned. But getting to that conclusion is so difficult.

The subway would cost $2.3 billion for 7.6 kilometres and three stations; the LRT is $1.8 billion for 10 kilometres and seven stations.

The subway is slightly faster (40 km/h to 36 km/h); will carry 5 million more passengers per year, has twice the future capacity and saves five minutes over the route.

The LRT would serve almost twice as many riders within walking distance (47,000, versus 24,000). It fits the zoning and land-use plans included in the city’s Official Plan, and is better suited to serving the population near the corridor. It has a capacity of 15,000 riders per hour, almost twice the 8,000 actual riders anticipated by 2031. And it is already fully funded by the province.

But there is this.

The very acronym LRT — light rail transit — is toxic in this town. Mayor Rob Ford has succeeded in poisoning the well. He insists on comparing LRTs to streetcars, though this is equivalent to comparing the GO Train to a freight train. He disparages a perfectly viable, modern and efficient mode of transit as if it were the toonerville trolley.

Ford goes as far as to claim that an LRT in the current RT right of way from Kennedy to the Scarborough Town Centre would rip up streets and block traffic and clog intersections and affect traffic lights — all ludicrous claims for a corridor that is dedicated and away from traffic, just like the RT.

The mayor is consistently obstructionist on the transit file. Every time city council votes in favour of an LRT, the mayor schemes to undo the vote and stop its implementation. He held up Transit City for more than a year, until council wrested it away from him in a coup. Now the mayor is sitting on a masterpiece of a plan — a double-dealing, backdoor dismantling of two LRT projects with one stroke.

With a vote to replace the RT with a subway, Ford aims to also bury the LRT along Sheppard Ave., a project fully funded with provincial money plus $333 million from the federal government.

Ford is so anti-LRT he couldn’t hide his intent during questioning by Councillor Ron Moeser on Tuesday.

Ford suggested the city could divert $333 million in federal money earmarked for the Sheppard LRT. The feds don’t care if it goes to subways or LRT, Ford claimed.

But council assigned that money to the Sheppard LRT, Moeser reminded Ford.

The mayor scoffed, dismissing council’s intent with, “I don’t understand what you mean, councillor, I don’t support LRT.” Never have. Never will. So there.

The tête-à-tête sparked uproar in council, forcing a recess. When Ford returned, he backtracked, admitting the $333 million was for Sheppard and the city needed “new money” from the feds. But the damage was done.

The dénouement would arrive in an email from federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to the Star’s Daniel Dale, confirming the $333 million could be shifted from Sheppard — even though the federal government has signed a master agreement earmarking the money for Sheppard.

In other words, by shifting the money, Ford could kill the LRT on Sheppard for lack of funds; and kill the LRT from Kennedy to Town Centre, by boosting the subway pot, which is anywhere from $500 million to $900 million short.

The latest vote could have initiated a noble effort to change the rancour around this issue and seek consensus. Mayor Ford should win the vote — the politics is right, expediently uniting political foes.

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But past this decision, expected Wednesday, council will be even more fractious and splintered than before.

And that’s not a bad thing for a mayor who long ago lost control of council.