Thorncliffe Park vs Metrolinx - The Year In Review

On April 8, 2021, Thorncliffe Park was blindsided with a sucker punch when Metrolinx announced that they had decided to build a massive walled-in train yard in Thorncliffe Park without any prior consultation, no effort to understand the dynamics or complexity of this community and its unique needs, no social impact analysis, nor any discussions with community leaders or elected representatives.  On the anniversary of this travesty, the community of Thorncliffe Park has learned a few things:

·       Metrolinx informed the community that much of their analysis to identify Thorncliffe Park as the location for a train yard was a desk-top process performed by back-office staff using dubious employment data provided to them by the City of Toronto.

·       Over 10,000 residents of Thorncliffe Park signed a petition objecting to the placement of a train yard in Thorncliffe Park. Shortly thereafter, the petition was taken down by a small local group aligned with Metrolinx that sued SaveTPARK to force the removal of petition.

·       No other development project in Ontario, public or private, receives less scrutiny, transparency and approval requirements than a Metrolinx train yard.  This should alarm every Ontarian.

·       Successive Provincial Governments have stripped the Environmental Assessment process for Transit projects so that there is no need to assess the human impacts associated with dumping a 700,000 square feet train yard (equivalent to 24 soccer fields) into a dense urban community.  However, they took great care to avoid upsetting gravel and cement yard owners, bats, birds and the manufacturers of roofing sealant.

·       To be constructive, SaveTPARK acting on behalf of the community, provided Metrolinx with an alternative placement for the train yard that would not have delayed the project or changed the alignment of the line. Metrolinx discredited the proposal by shifting their own stated criteria.

·       Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario weaponized Non-Disclosure Agreements to buy cooperation, intimidate and silence affected stakeholders and throw a blanket over a supposedly public planning approvals process to control and hide the secret deals they are making with taxpayer dollars.

·       Metrolinx can brag about spending $50 million of taxpayer dollars for a property and work valued at $20 million for one aligned special interest group without any details about what that money will be used for or how it will be managed and accounted for because they were desperate to exploit an existing opportunity that it believes might improve their credibility deficit.

·       Government Ministers message platitudes about the importance of communities in planning transit in their news releases, but have yet to set foot in Thorncliffe Park to see the impacts of their own decisions and instead hide behind Metrolinx, an unaccountable transit behemoth that shields them from scrutiny with condescending and arrogant rhetoric.

·       The Associate Minister of Transportation Stan Cho is a hypocrite for stopping a 59-unit affordable housing project from proceeding in his riding because the City did not consult with his community before selecting the location, but does nothing to pause or re-think the decision to dump a 700,000 square feet train yard in our community without consulting us.

·       The City of Toronto Economic Development department provided Metrolinx the excuse it was looking for to justify its decision to locate its third train yard in a low income, racialized community just like it did at Mount Dennis and Jane-Finch.  The City organized a meeting with two corporate interests, including foreign owned businesses, but did not provide the same courtesy to the people or small businesses in Thorncliffe Park that got dumped on without any regard because those two companies threatened to leave the City.  These same companies have now sold their properties after petitioning against the train yard being on their lands.

·       Metrolinx has the authority to build a new train yard that likely cost in the hundreds of millions without publicly providing a cost-benefit analysis or cost estimates for the facility to justify their decision making.  They are comfortable to allow the Auditor General blame a future government after this one cuts the ribbon and its highly paid officials cash their bonuses.

·       Premier Doug Ford, Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney, Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma and Associate Transportation Minister Stan Cho have completely ignored the needs and concerns of the Thorncliffe Park community and had no problem approving the decision by Metrolinx to railroad our community.

·       Our elected representatives Councillor Jaye Robinson, MPP Kathleen Wynne, MP Rob Oliphant were quick to display their outrage at this flawed decision, but did little except to demand more consultation after the fact. Metrolinx’s CEO has insisted throughout that any such consultation is restricted to the mitigation of implementation-related issues.  That translates to empty words from elected officials!

The lack of courage by government agencies and elected officials to date has left Thorncliffe Park disadvantaged and disproportionately affected by the placement of a large train yard associated with the Ontario Line.  As candidates for Don Valley West seek the opportunity to represent Thorncliffe Park and it’s 30,000 plus residents in the upcoming Provincial Election, we want to elect a leader that will demonstrate the courage required to scrutinize the decisions surrounding the placement of the train yard and address the concerns this community has been voicing for the past year. Thorncliffe Park needs to hear the position each candidate is taking on this issue and their proposed action plan to address the concerns expressed above.  You should ask the Don Valley West Provincial Candidates too!

 Stephanie Bowman – Candidate for the Ontario Liberal Party - info@stephaniebowman.ca

Irwin Elman – Candidate for the Ontario New Democratic Party - irwin.elman@ontariondp.ca

Mark Saunders – Candidate for the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party - media@ontariopc.com

Sheena Sharp – Candidate for the Ontario Green Party - sheenasharp@gpo.ca