Ontario

Tuesday January 21, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday January 21, 2020

GO Transit expansion turning out to be a bumpy ride

It is too early to say GO Transit’s planned expansion might be coming off the rails. But it’s not too early to worry about whether the timing and the scope of the expansion could be in doubt.

December 21, 2019

The GO Expansion plan is intended to transform what is essentially a commuter railway into an all-day, two-way transit network with service as frequent as every 15 minutes in core areas. When fully rolled out the expansion could boost ridership from current levels of about 70 million to 200 million by 2055. It also involves electrification of core parts of the transit network.

According to documents obtained by our sister paper, The Toronto Star, provincial transit agency Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario (the agency responsible for delivering major public infrastructure projects) are being compelled to reconsider how the procurement process for the expansion is working. Companies in charge of executing the expansion are raising concerns about how the province is contracting out the work, and the amount of risk private sector bidders are being asked to assume through the public-private partnership model being employed.

September 25, 2008

The leaked documents also warn that changing procurement procedures at this point could delay the final phase of the expansion which is supposed to be complete by 2025.

Obviously, this is a big deal for the GTA which is still the heartland of GO Transit, but the threat of delays should also concern more peripheral areas such as Hamilton, Niagara, Waterloo Region and Peterborough, all targets for commuters fleeing GTA prices and congestion.

What, if any, impact will the procurement concerns have on the scope and timing of the project? We don’t know, because GO and Infrastructure Ontario aren’t saying, but it is telling that Infrastructure Ontario would not confirm whether the final phase will be completed as planned and on time. (Continued: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Saturday January 18, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday January 18, 2020

$60 payout ‘putting money back in parents’ pockets’, education minister says

May 4, 2019

The minister of education is offering parents money for childcare costs incurred during rotating teachers’ strikes.

Stephen Lecce says parents can apply for amounts from $25 to $60 per day for children under twelve.

Lecce says if all unions were to walk out, subsidies for childcare would amount to $48 million a day.    

“Just for clarity, every day that all unions withdraw services, that full withdraw saves the government $60 million dollars in salaries,” Lecce said. “So the concept here is we know that’s not our money, it’s our tax dollars, we’re using it. It’s the savings from their withdrawal of service.”

November 22, 2019

Parents of pre-schoolers at school-based child-care centres affected by the strikes will get the most money. Those with children in grades 1 through 7 will get less and parents of high school students will get nothing.

Lecce said the government’s motivation for the payout was to put money “back in the pockets of working people in Ontario.”

“At the end of the day the greatest constituency that bears the costs of this are parents and middle and low-income families who have to find childcare on short order,” he said.

As for criticisms that the payout was a bribe to parents, Lecce said he wasn’t surprised it was being spun by teachers’ unions as such.

August 29, 2019

“I think union leaders, respectfully, must accept the premise that there’s a cost when a child is staying home,” he said. “We have examples, real human examples, of individuals and low-income families and single parent families where they have to take vacation days.”

“Those will eventually add up,” Lecce said. “So it is absolutely in the interests of the taxpayer to return that money to them to make their life a little bit better and a little less difficult during this time of turmoil.”

“And it underscores our commitment to standing with families against this escalation.” (CBC) 

 

Tuesday January 14, 2019

January 14, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday January 14, 2019

Ontario government apologizes for alert about Pickering nuclear plant incident sent ‘in error’

Ontario’s solicitor general has apologized for an emergency message sent across the province early Sunday alerting residents about an incident at the Pickering nuclear generating station east of Toronto.

August 15, 1997

“The alert was issued in error to the public during a routine training exercise being conducted by the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre,” Sylvia Jones said in a statement on Sunday.

The alert system is tested twice daily to ensure it is ready in the event of an emergency, Jones told CBC News. In the course of that testing, she said, it appears someone mistakenly pushed the alert on a “live pathway” instead of a “test pathway.”

Who exactly is responsible for pushing out the alert, Jones said, is part of a larger investigation, which will be carried out by Emergency Management Ontario.

“There was no incident at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station that should have triggered public notification. Nor was there ever any danger to the public or environment,” Jones added.”The government of Ontario sincerely apologizes for raising public concern and has begun a full investigation to determine how this error happened, and will take the appropriate steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

Later on Sunday, OPG Chief Nuclear Officer Sean Granville said in a statement: “OPG has a sophisticated and robust notification process in place that we would immediately follow in the unlikely event of an incident at the station.

July 26, 2019

“I want to assure the public that there was no incident at the station, and the plant is operating as designed.”

At 7:24 a.m. ET, the alert was issued provincewide, saying an incident was reported at the station. The alert also said it applied to residents living within 10 kilometres of the station.

“There has been NO abnormal release of radioactivity from the station and emergency staff are responding to the situation,” the alert read.

The alert said people near the station do not need to “take any protective actions at this time.”

In a tweet about 40 minutes later, Ontario Power Generation said the first alert was sent “in error.”

“There is no danger to the public or environment,” OPG said. (CBC) 

 

Saturday December 21, 2019

December 21, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday December 21, 2019

Auditor general is looking into cost estimates for Hamilton LRT

Ontario’s auditor general says she’ll look at how reasonable the province’s cost estimates were for Hamilton light-rail transit (LRT) as part of an upcoming audit of Metrolinx.

December 17, 2019

A key construction union is also investigating the government’s numbers, and says its preliminary investigation shows the province has been misled.

Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk said in a letter to Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath Thursday that she already started a value-for-money audit of Metrolinx governance and operations earlier this month.

“As part of this audit, we will be looking at the reasonableness of the cost estimates for rapid transit projects, including the Hamilton LRT,” she said.

Lysyk was responding to a request from Horwath, who represents Hamilton Centre. The province cancelled an LRT project earlier this week that runs 14 kilometres through three NDP ridings, including Horwath’s. The province will still invest $1 billion in Hamilton, Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney said, but a task force will decide how it’s spent.

Horwath wrote Lysyk on Wednesday asking her to look into the Ministry of Transportation estimate that Hamilton LRT would cost $5.5 billion in capital, operating and maintenance over 30 years.

December 18, 2019

Mulroney said the estimate was the reason her government cancelled LRT. The ministry hired a third-party consultant, she said, after “proponents in the market” alerted her that the Hamilton project was over budget.

Horwath wants Lysyk to investigate why the cost-per-kilometre is higher for Hamilton’s LRT than the Hurontario and Finch West lines.

“The minister is refusing to disclose the third-party consultant’s report that the premier cites as validation for his figures,” Horwath told Lysyk, “so the public has no way of independently assessing them.”

The Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) announced earlier this week its investment arm would do its own review of the numbers. The union said in a statement Friday that preliminary figures show the province’s numbers were inflated. (CBC)