Rapid Transit

[SteelTown]

He's now a senior member of Wynne's cabinet. McMeekin even as a junior cabinet member did well for Hamilton. Take for example Highway 403 is undergoing a facelift and that would've not happened without McMeekin.

The extra $7 million to the Lister Block deal, McMeekin was involved. The extra $22.5 from the province for the stadium, McMeekin was involved. McMeekin is the one that's keeping Flamboro Downs alive.

And now having him as Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing should help with Hamilton's affordable housing issue and deal with the LRT issue.

[HillStreetBlues]

Originally Posted by thistleclub

Implement the revenue tools recommended last year by Metrolinx (HST, gas tax, parking levy, development charges) as a means of making up the approximately $20 billion gap between what the government has pledged to invest in transit and the sum required to complete the Big Move over the next twenty years.

Thanks for posting that link, Thistleclub. Good read. The Liberals have so far seemed to indicate that they will not use their majority to full effect- for instance, opting to recycle the pre-election budget even after we all spent a long time hearing in the media that it was an “NDP budget.” But it’s worth hoping that they will introduce the revenue tools necessary to ensure sustainable funding for transit in the future. One wonders how transit will be funded otherwise, particularly as they have said they are interested in reducing the budget deficit.

[King&James]

They will opt to tax the highways, claiming victory for mass transit - a way to incent the public to hop on board. Toll roads here we come.

[Jon Dalton]

I hope so but I don't think they will have the balls to do that. The liberals did not campaign on transit taxes like they said they would 2 years ago. Instead they watered down the message and kept it that way for the election campaign. So they can't claim an elected mandate to raise revenue for transit and would be seen as dishonest if they brought it back to the table right after their surprise majority. I think we're going to be stuck with 'we'll figure out a way to at least get some of this done'.

[markbarbera]

I don't see toll roads coming. Certainly not in the same form as the 407. The Wynne government already alluded to alternative 'toll-like' revenue sources like premium permits for single-occupant vehicles to use HOV lanes. I would not be surprised to see that, as well as permits for cars that use GTA roads lined with streetcar rails during rush hour. I can also see some sort of supplemental tax on parking lot rates to offset upcoming transit capital costs. Converting existing 400 series highways to toll roads is a non-starter. However, if we end up with a new mid-pen highway (which is a big if), I could see it being tolled in the same manner as the 407 (minus the private ownership).

[SteelTown]

McMeekin isn't wasting time. He's at City council.

[coalminecanary]

Bring photo radar back

[SteelTown]

Andrew Dreschel

Funding clarity for #Hamont LRT? McMeekin is bringing new Transport Minister Del Duca for council Q&A, probably in August.

[thistleclub]

Finance Minister Charles Sousa, Ontario Budget Speech, May 2, 2013:

“Every minute a worker spends stuck in traffic is a minute of lost productivity. Every idle transport truck on a highway is an opportunity for a competitor to find an advantage. Facing this challenge requires sound public policy and sufficient public investment.

That’s why our government will consider a range of new revenue tools to support the expansion of transportation and public transit in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. We will take action following the release of the Metrolinx investment strategy to implement revenue tools that will provide the means to ease gridlock. This will prevent the addition of further pressure on our property taxes.

As an example of the changes required, Mr. Speaker, we will turn select high-occupancy vehicle lanes into high-occupancy toll lanes. Toll-free options would continue to exist on all the highways that have these lanes. We will set out our plan and consult on the design before moving quickly to introduce this measure.”

[HillStreetBlues]

I agree that the Liberals will not do it, but I do not agree that they could not. As Lorinc points out in the article Thistleclub linked, McGuinty campaigned hard on not raising taxes, and one of his first orders of business was to implement a new one. Chretien campaigned hard in ’93 against the GST, and we know what happened. We could be here all day if we wanted to come up with examples of governments breaking campaign pledges and raising taxes. Very few campaigns involve promises to increase them…

I would be shocked if the Liberals finance more than a token proportion of the cost of transit improvements through any method other than debt. But I’d be happy to be surprised. Even tolls on the QEW and 401 would start to feel like a fact of life in four years, and if they start now, a lot of the tolls would not even be issues by re-election time. If anything, Ontarians just proved that we do not have especially long memories.

[thistleclub]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

He's now a senior member of Wynne's cabinet. McMeekin even as a junior cabinet member did well for Hamilton. Take for example Highway 403 is undergoing a facelift and that would've not happened without McMeekin.

Or his federal counterpart.

[lucasmascotto]

Dreschel: ‘Blunt’ LRT talks in pipeline
The Hamilton Spectator
By: Andrew Dreschel

New Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca expects to be in Hamilton for crucial LRT discussions with city council before the month is out.

A definite date has yet to be set, but Del Duca spokesperson Patrick Searle says the minister expects the meeting will take place before August.

"I think the minister wants to get down as soon as possible."

Regional cabinet minister Ted McMeekin hopes to accompany Del Duca for the straight talk on LRT funding.

"I want to get this sorted out and I want to have that blunt conversation because, to be honest, that's what's missing," said McMeekin, minister of municipal affairs and housing.

Council had asked former transport minister Glen Murray to come to Hamilton to clear up confusion over the province's funding commitment for a light rail system, but the visit was sidelined by the June provincial election.

The mayor's office has been working to set up a July meeting since Del Duca took over from Murray after the Liberal victory.

McMeekin says he'll give his cabinet colleague a full briefing on council's LRT position. That position has been the same since February, 2013, when it approved the Rapid Ready transit report, which includes the $811-million McMaster University to Eastgate Square LRT line.

Council's support is predicated on full capital funding from the province, the same deal several Toronto transit projects received when the Big Move regional transit plan was uncorked in 2007.

During the election, Premier Kathleen Wynne and Murray both promised 100 per cent funding, but Wynne also muddied the waters by suggesting the province still needs to hear what Hamilton's transit priorities are.

That mixed message worried LRT supporters, perhaps with good reason. McMeekin says the blunt conversation that needs to take place goes well beyond council's resolution for 100 per cent funding.

"It's one thing to write a report and pass a resolution, unanimously or otherwise, and send it on. But when you're talking upwards to $1 billion, you need to have detailed discussions about the business plan. If you want to do LRT, where are the tracks going to run? Who's acquiring property? How's it part of a comprehensive scheme? The whole bit."

That language troubles councillor and mayoral candidate Brian McHattie, a staunch LRT advocate. He says the "whole bit" has already been done, that all information the province needs is in the city's report.

According to McHattie, council followed the rules by producing a 30 per cent project design on which the province is supposed to make its funding decision.

"We followed the rules, the rules they laid out … it sounds like they're trying to change the rules."

"I can only speculate that they're trying to find a way out of this and the Liberal government is reneging on their previous promise, which would be unfortunate, particularly now they have a majority government."

Councillor and mayoral candidate Brad Clark, who favours bus rapid transit, disagrees. He says McMeekin is right.

"I don't think we're anywhere close to being prepared for LRT and I expected the government to ask those questions."

Clark, a former Tory transportation minister, says the city has a conceptual plan but has not done detailed design work.

'We have not had an adult conversation about where the tracks are going; we have not had an adult conversation with folks in terms of the impact of those tracks, what the costs are going to be, who's underwriting the infrastructure construction along the route, the purchase of property that will occur there."

McHattie and Clark also disagree on the timing of the meeting with Del Duca.

McHattie is concerned some councillors will be away on summer vacation. He thinks the meeting should be postponed till September, otherwise the province is merely going through the motions.

Clark says timing shouldn't be an issue for an important meeting like this; he would hope councillors could form a quorum.

Nine candidates have registered for the mayor's race. But it's fair to say Hamilton's transit battle lines are being most starkly drawn by the two on council.

[thistleclub]

City’s LRT meeting with province in jeopardy
(Hamilton Spectator, Andrew Dreschel, July 15 2014)

Confusion over the LRT meeting with Transport Minister Steven Del Duca is threatening to de-rail the crucial July 25th get-together.

Del Duca and regional cabinet minister Ted McMeekin were set to meet with Mayor Bob Bratina's government relations advisory group consisting of three councillors and the city manager to clarify the province's position on LRT funding.

But when it became clear the meeting would be held in private without public attendance, things began to go awry.

Councillor Sam Merulla, a member of the advisory group, says he intends to boycott the gathering because of the "optics" of a secret meeting,

Merulla, who earlier had encouraged the public to attend, believed the meeting was with the Fairness to Hamilton subcommittee, which he chairs.

He's worried the restricted meeting may breach open-meeting policies.

Merulla blames the mayor's office for "haphazard, verbal communications" in setting up the private meeting and creating "mass confusion."

"We have to wipe the board clean and take a new approach."

Councillor Scott Duvall, also a member of the mayor's group, agrees "it all seems mixed up."

Duvall says he thought Del Duca would be meeting with all councillors, not a select group.

"If we're talking about LRT it should be all councillors involved," Duvall said.

Duvall intends to talk with the mayor and city manager Chris Murray to find out how the mayor's advisory group was chosen to be the conduit.

The advisory group consists of the mayor, Merulla, Duvall, Russ Powers and Murray.

Peggy Chapman, Bratina's chief of staff, says the group was chosen on the advice of Murray and Bratina and to accommodate the minister's busy schedule.

"The mayor's office is always the direct contact for the province and federal government to meet with city issues," Chapman said, noting the mayor is allowed to meet privately with anyone at any time.

The advisory group was formed in late 2011 as an attempt to rein-in what was seen as Bratina's go-alone style of pushing GO transit at the expense of LRT with the province.


Read it in full here.

[markbarbera]

There is a classic 'create a crisis' move at play here on Merulla's part. Why boycott the meeting? If transparency was truly a concern, why not attend to participate in what is discussed and report back to the council in whole at the next council meeting. All that is occurring is a discussion so that the province and the city fully understand each other. No decision is being made and it is not an in-camera meeting.

The advisory committee was created for this very reason. Council decided they didn't want the mayor meeting with the province on his own, specifically on matters related to LRT, so they decided in 2011 that future meetings would involve these members and not just the mayor. Now that the meeting is going to take place, Merulla wants to change the rules again on his own? Council voted for this format unanimously. Merulla voted for it, as did Duval. Thy both agreed to sit on the advisory group. Now all of a sudden they don't like the idea, and Merulla will boycott the meeting because of 'optics'? What optics have changed since 2011?

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Merulla gets antsy if his name doesn't get into the paper every couple weeks.

[bigguy1231]

The Minister should be meeting with the whole council. Whether it's public or in private doesn't really matter as long as they get the information they need to proceed.

[markbarbera]

The Minister of Transport didn't meet with the entire council of Toronto to discuss the Scarborough subway expansion. The Minister did not meet with the entire K-W council to discuss their LRT plans, nor did the Minister meet with the entire Ottawa council to discuss their rapid transit plans. In all their cases it was either a one-on-one discussion with the mayor or with members of an advisory committee. Why should Hamilton's meeting with the Minister of Transport be any different?

[markbarbera]

The Minister of Transport didn't meet with the entire council of Toronto to discuss the Scarborough subway expansion. The Minister did not meet with the entire K-W council to discuss their LRT plans, nor did the Minister meet with the entire Ottawa council to discuss their rapid transit plans. In all their cases it was either a one-on-one discussion with the mayor or with members of an advisory committee. Why should Hamilton's meeting with the Minister of Transport be any different? The only difference I see is the desire by certain councillors to jockey for attention in the weeks leading to the next election.

[movingtohamilton]

Ryan McGreal gives pretty compelling reasons why there should be no private meeting.

http://raisethehammer.org/article/2241

[Jon Dalton]

In Hamilton given our recent history with Council there is a particular need for accountability. The public deserves to know what is going on in that meeting since we've been jerked around for so long on this issue. And we can't trust our leaders to tell us what was actually said.