Years of wrangling over a Scarborough subway have come to this: sinking $1.4 billion into a two-stop stub-way running mostly above ground. Ontario Transportation Minister Glen Murray’s latest announcement would be laughable if it weren’t such bad public policy. That hasn’t stopped him from shamelessly trumpeting his ill-conceived plan.

In fact, there’s nothing to brag about here. Murray’s truncated subway represents a betrayal of Toronto’s transit needs and a colossal waste of taxpayers’ dollars, seasoned — for good measure — by a blatant display of political opportunism. It’s no way to run a railroad, but it’s what you get with politicians at the throttle.

They’re chugging ahead now because Scarborough’s rickety RT line is too old to run much longer. The initial plan, approved by city council, involved replacing it with an ultra-modern light-rail route complete with seven new stations positioned within walking distance of 47,000 Scarborough residents and workers.

After extensive study, this was determined to be the best transit option by experts at Metrolinx, the agency in charge of transportation planning throughout the Greater Toronto Area. As a bonus, the $1.8-billion light-rail line was fully funded by the province.

But with Mayor Rob Ford mindlessly yelling for “subways, subways, subways,” council foolishly switched track in July and voted for a three-stop underground route. Its stations would be easily accessible, on foot, to just 24,000 Scarborough residents. Even worse, the city couldn’t pay for this $2.8-billion expansion of the Bloor-Danforth subway line.

It looked like the ill-conceived initiative might collapse, forcing a return to light rail. But then Murray, without warning, announced that Ontario’s Liberal government is ready to proceed on its own, with a two-stop subway extension to be fully funded with $1.4 billion of the provincial money that would have gone to light rail.

Murray couldn’t say when the project might start, or be ready to carry riders. And considerable doubt lingers over whether it meets strict technical demands governing subway design. Toronto Transit Commission experts warn that months of study are required to see if Murray’s plan is even workable.

Given that uncertainty, there was no need to announce the stub-way now. Next to the Liberal gas-plant scandal (with which it has much in common) it’s hard to imagine a more irresponsible political choice. Going this route means flushing away at least $85 million already spent on the light rail initiative. Yes, the switch is popular — specifically with Scarborough subway enthusiasts ill-informed about benefits of other public transit. But so were the government’s politically motivated gas-plant closings in Mississauga and Oakville, to the detriment of other Ontarians.

Any doubt about the political purpose underlying the two-stop subway was settled by bickering over credit for this bungle. With shameless bravado, Murray relentlessly stressed the stub-way was a gift of “the government of Ontario and the Liberal government” acting alone – without a nickel from anyone else. Meanwhile, Ford assured his supporters that the province had bowed to his leadership on subways and is now just “helping me out.”

Ironically both men, without saying so, were claiming credit for a decision that would leave Toronto commuters with inferior public transit while sticking Ontario taxpayers with an enormous bill. Such is the price of Scarborough votes.

What’s particularly disappointing is that Premier Kathleen Wynne must have signed off on this. Despite obvious differences, Wynne, Murray and Ford do have one thing in common — they’re apparently willing to put political gain ahead of long-term transit value. That leaves Ontarians, and Toronto commuters, all the poorer.

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