McGuinty’s keen to get GOing on all-day service for city
http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...rvice-for-city
Premier Dalton McGuinty says all-day GO — not LRT — is the province’s first transit priority for Hamilton.
McGuinty, who sat down with The Spectator this week while campaigning for October 6 provincial election, said the province is following Mayor Bob Bratina’s lead by focusing its attention on GO rather than light rail transit (LRT).
“That was the No. 1 ask of the city,” McGuinty said. “We’ve had some important conversations with the mayor, and this is their priority. Which made it our priority. Over time, we can enter into other discussions about things like the LRT.”
The city’s commitment to LRT has been under scrutiny since July, when city manager Chris Murray suspended all work on LRT beyond the city’s obligations to the province. That email surfaced soon after Bratina and Murray declared GO to be the city’s top priority — a statement that has prompted a backlash from some community members and councillors.
Last week, Bratina reaffirmed that LRT “is not a priority” during one of his recent appearances on CHML.
Ryan McGreal of Hamilton Light Rail said the premier’s comments demonstrate that the city has mishandled the LRT file. He points out that it was the McGuinty government that gave Hamilton $3 million to study LRT and that McGuinty campaigned on plans to build two LRT lines in Hamilton before the 2007 election.
“It’s not surprising the province is backing away now. We’ve given them an excuse not to fulfil their promise. We’ve given them an out,” said McGreal.
“We’ve created a self-fulfilling prophecy. We spent all summer bashing LRT … You have a demoralized and dispirited staff who have been scattered to other departments. We have torpedoed our LRT commitment.”
However, councillor and LRT advocate Brian McHattie says the premier’s comments don’t mean the city will never see provincial cash for LRT — just that it’s not a short-term goal.
“I think LRT — you can read his comments any way you want, I guess, but I’ll read them as LRT is still on the agenda, but it’s a future orientation,” McHattie said. “I think that’s fair, not knowing the details about what the mayor’s been telling him.”
McGuinty said getting all-day GO to Hamilton is a key part of his election platform.
“I think one of the specific commitments of great interest to the folks in Hamilton will be our commitment to bring about full-day GO train service,” he said.
“It’s a place on the move. We want to help folks in Hamilton move a bit more. We’re convinced that the new GO train service will be very helpful in that regard.”