Toronto council wants review of Eglinton Crosstown 'boondoggle.' But only after it's complete

Toronto city council has backed a call for a public inquiry or third-party review of the troubled Eglinton Crosstown LRT, but the councillors who led the charge say they're disappointed such a probe will be delayed until the project is complete.

Council endorsed the call by Coun. Mike Colle and Coun. Josh Matlow at its Thursday meeting for an inquiry into the "delayed and over-budget" project. The pair say while a majority of fellow councillors got behind their request, an amendment on the floor of council will change the timeline.

Instead of asking for the review immediately, council asked for it when the project is completed.

"That basically lets Metrolinx off the hook," a frustrated Colle said.

"What [council] said is the inquiry and the investigation into what the hell's wrong with the Eglinton $12.8 billion boondoggle won't start until after the line is complete," said Colle, who represents Ward 8, Eglinton-Lawrence.

"The problem with that is they don't know how to complete it. They don't have the ability to complete it ... So we could be waiting for who knows how many years when Metrolinx completes the line." 

Matlow, who represents Ward 12, Toronto-St.Paul's, said the delay will block any immediate attempt to get answers for the many people who are suffering due to the delays that are plaguing the project.

"We're upset on behalf of the businesses that are being decimated," he said. "We're upset on behalf of the residents whose lives have been interrupted. Neighbourhoods become dysfunctional with traffic, because of these delays," he said.

"We're upset for every taxpayer who's seen billions of dollars just just bleeding through this delayed project.

Matlow and Colle first indicated they planned to call for a public inquiry into the stalled project late last month. 

The council vote comes after confidential documents dated earlier this fall show the project, which was expected to cost a total of $11.78 billion in 2018, is now expected to cost at least $12.8 billion. The opening of the LRT line, which broke ground in 2011, has been delayed several times with projected completion dates of late 2020 and 2021. Earlier this year, Metrolinx announced it would not open in late 2022, either. It's unclear when the project will be complete.

The records paint a picture of how unresolved issues between the two provincial agencies involved in the project and Crosslinx Transit Solutions, the consortium building it, are contributing to the delays. They also outline concerns Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario (IO) have about the quality of some work completed, as well as "over-ambitious" timelines.

If it had been approved, the councillors' original motion would have called on Ontario's Minister of Transportation Caroline Mulroney and Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster, to appear at the executive committee meeting in January to answer questions about the delays. They'd be asked when the project is to be completed, the expected cost and how residents and businesses affected by the delays might be compensated.

That will now be delayed. 

"We will continue to escalate this," Matlow said. "But I hope that Minister Mulroney and Metrolinx don't take council's misstep as a signal that we don't demand accountability."

Mayor John Tory said he understands people are frustrated by what they see as a lack of transparency from Metrolinx, but he said he would rather see a third-party review than a full public inquiry.

"The sensible time to look at the whole thing is when it's complete," Tory said. "So that you can look at the whole package, and what happened to fix things."  

Metrolinx did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday night.

At a news conference last week, Mulroney blamed Ontario's previous Liberal government, who were last in power in 2018, for problems with the Crosstown.

"We inherited this project from the previous government and there are technical issues that still need to be worked out," she said.

"We want it to open as soon as possible," Mulroney said. "People are frustrated but they deserve a system that operates well and that operates safely when it does."