On Tuesday, city councillor Gord Perks posted a Twitter thread that our editors thought would be both insightful and entertaining for our readers.

1. Transit. Politics. Yup, gonna go there. — Gord Perks (@gordperks) February 27, 2018

2. You may have seen recent coverage (particularly in The Star) of Go stations being added at huge costs with a negative impact on ridership. (That’s right some new stations would slow the trains, making the service worse & reducing risership). — Gord Perks (@gordperks) February 27, 2018

3. Like you, I am horrified that a public agency would consider spending scarce public transit money to make things worse. — Gord Perks (@gordperks) February 27, 2018

4. This of course is not a new phenomenon. Scarborough subway. Smart Track. Or further back Vaughn Subway and Sheppard Subway. Even further (hello @SwanBoatSteve) the original Scarborough RT. — Gord Perks (@gordperks) February 27, 2018

5. Many respond to this by saying we have to take the politics out of transit planning. I don’t think that’s right. — Gord Perks (@gordperks) February 27, 2018

6. First, suppose that we set up an agency of experts and let them decide. THIS IS HOW WE GOT METROLINX IN THE FIRST PLACE. Someone picks the experts. Someone gives them funding and a mission. Someone pays them. When public money is at stake that has to be the elected government — Gord Perks (@gordperks) February 27, 2018

7. Second, in my experience, experts can get it wrong. Part of the reason we hold public meetings is that people who use a service, or live in place, or will be effected by a proposal know things about the service, place, or proposal that a professional expert won’t know. — Gord Perks (@gordperks) February 27, 2018

8. Third, democracy. This is the hard one. The goals of a society are not technical. If we all want to sit in traffic, polluting the air so we die younger, and changing the climate in disastrous ways, then that’s our right. — Gord Perks (@gordperks) February 27, 2018

9. Fortunately we don’t all want to do that. But, there are many choices we do make that are about values and not about numbers. That’s a good thing. — Gord Perks (@gordperks) February 27, 2018

10. Here’s my sense of how it should work. We should set broad social goals politically, democratically. We should hire people with expertise to sit down with the effected parties to think through options of achieving the goal. — Gord Perks (@gordperks) February 27, 2018

11. The experts should provide advice PUBLICLY. Elected governments should deliberate on the advice PUBLICLY and decide. In this way each actor in the process is accountable for their part. — Gord Perks (@gordperks) February 27, 2018

12. If i take a position that’s at odds with expert advice I take great pains to explain why. Perhaps I have different goals. Perhaps give more weight to certain stakeholders. As long as you can see the advice I am working from and hear my reasoning, I am doing my job. — Gord Perks (@gordperks) February 27, 2018

13. It’s only if I put my thumb on the scale and change the advice I get OUT OF PUBLIC VIEW that we have a problem. When that happens I can pass the buck and I can hide my motivations. — Gord Perks (@gordperks) February 27, 2018

13. Our problem with transit planning isn’t too much politics, it’s too little. Open debate, transparency to the public, accountability, advocacy, values. We need more of this. Without politics there is only authority. That’s what I think. – end — Gord Perks (@gordperks) February 27, 2018

photo by Danielle Scott

Gord Perks is city councillor for Parkdale-High Park. Follow him at @gordperks. This thread originally appeared on Twitter on February 27.

