Larry's Corner

Towards Sustainable Transportation

Last week I boarded the GO Train to attend a presentation in Toronto hosted by provincial transportation advocacy groups. The session featured former Burlington Mayor Rob MacIsaac, who is the current Chair of Metrolinx, previously known as the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority. The session was to give an update on the work this group has been doing since it was structured amid some fanfare about a year ago.

Having been on the ground floor of this group’s formation, I attended the session because I was interested in the update. As Mayor, I lobbied hard for Hamilton to be included in the GTTA whose purpose was to co-ordinate transit initiatives across the whole GTA region, hence the new name Metrolinx.

I knew that if Hamilton was left out of this transportation equation, we would be missing the benefits of participating in a co-ordinated effort, as well as the eventual dollar allocations to improve our own transportation and transit network.

Credit must be given to the McGuinty government for having had the foresight to include Hamilton in the group, even though lobbying efforts also came from the Niagara Region to also be included. I recall my discussions with the Transportation Minister of the day about the strategic importance of Hamilton within this board. He obviously agreed. Even before this occurred, I also had spoken with other Mayors from the GTA, principally Toronto’s, to support Hamilton’s initiative. This occurred at informal meetings which were organized by another Provincial Minister to discuss items of mutual regional interest. I was very pleased by Toronto’s understanding of Hamilton’s unique opportunities, and eventual support of our entry into the GTTA membership. It was not the first time Hamilton and Toronto collaborated. I chose to see Toronto as a strategic ally, not a competitor, and this helped.

The presentation by Chair MacIsaac was attended by the current Transportation Minister, Jim Bradley, and some members of the Board. Our own Mayor and a couple of his staff were also there to receive the update.

The presentation was excellent. It highlighted key themes as part of the work that the Metrolynx Board will do. It emphasized the importance of the three ‘pillars’ which will be considered in the development of the Regional Transportation Plan; namely, people, the environment and the economy. These three pillars should be familiar to Hamiltonians because they are the very same three legs of the Vision 2020 stool that our city prides itself on having.

The process which will be used in the coming months is to issue a series of ‘Green Papers’ which will present, after concerted consultations, various options and combinations of options to be considered before the final ‘White Paper’ recommendations are made. The first of these papers issued at this session is entitled “Toward Sustainable Transportation”, the second will be called “Mobility Hubs”, next, “Walk/Cycle/Transportation Demand Management” followed by “Moving Goods and Delivering Services”. Paper #5 will be on “Highways and Roads” and the last will be on “Transit”.

As the papers suggest, this will be a comprehensive look at the whole system in a concerted co-ordinated way right across the whole of the City-Region defined by the GTA and Hamilton, or as I liked to say GTAH. Some caveats were voiced at the session which was sobering. The chief among them is the whole notion of funding. Other great plans over the last number of decades have foundered on the lack of financial commitment by everyone concerned: the province, municipal government and the private sector. What will make this effort have a different result? I believe three things, and these were mentioned at the meeting: firstly, we have a provincial government that has made an unprecedented commitment in the Billion dollar range towards transit and transportation improvement. MoveOntarion 2020 will figure nicely into the Metrolynx plans. Secondly, this new organization is Chaired by a very capable person. I hope that the Board members, Mayors and Regional Chairs, won’t descend into the kind of parochialism that killed other processes. Time will tell on this one. Will our Mayor have the skills to keep things on track? I hope so! And thirdly, and most importantly, the stars align because I believe public opinion is ahead of this movement. With energy cost concerns and gridlock concerns, I believe the public is looking for smart answers from its legislators. It will not only support moving forward on the issues being tackled, I believe the public will not stand for failure on these same challenges. Governments and individuals will be judged by their success on this file!