To revitalize Toronto’s waterfront, we must innovate how transit is funded GlobeDebate
Mark Romoff is the president and CEO of the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships.
To that end, the Waterfront Business Improvement Area advanced its case for a faster construction timeline for the Waterfront East LRT, with an ambitious completion date of 2025. But the process of developing transit infrastructure in Toronto is lagging decades behind, and tax dollars are currently going to priority projects such as the downtown relief line, Scarborough subway, and Yonge Street extension.
The Canada Infrastructure Bank is looking to fill the viability gap in projects with revenue-generating potential, and the LRT could be a project worth their consideration. The idea behind the CIB is to use the fewest taxpayer dollars possible to bring major projects to market, which is good news for all Canadians.
While the three levels of government would need to sort out the finer details, this approach would reduce the need for taxpayers to shoulder the burden and enable numerous benefits to accrue to citizens. These include lowering greenhouse gas emissions, increasing productivity, creating jobs and housing stock along the Waterfront East LRT corridor. At this stage, all options should remain on the table.
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