Former Mayor Larry Di Ianni and Mr. Ecklund's daughter Erika

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LARRY'S CORNER- Hamilton's Former Mayor Speaks

former Mayor of Hamilton, Larry Di IanniMetrolinx Appoints New Board

By Larry Di Ianni
(posted May 29, 2009)

When Hamilton was included in the new the Greater Toronto Transit Authority, now called Metrolinx, one of the items of great discussion was the inclusion of Go-Transit in this configuration. I suggested at a strategy meeting that it made sense for Go to be part of the new authority because of Go’s strategic presence in public transit across the province. The Minister of Transportation at the time indicated that he wanted Metrolinx to walk before it ran. All saw the wisdom of this approach.

Since then, Rob MacIsaac was coaxed out of political office to Chair the new Metrolinx Board on a full time basis. He has since made another career move to head up Hamilton’s Mohawk College. He also retains the Chair’s position on a part-time basis with Metrolinx. He is joined in his Chair’s duties by Peter Smith who was chairing Go Transit up until now. Peter is a businessman/developer with a passion for public transit and great business sense. The two will make a good team anchoring the new board.

As I said in an earlier article, the province rid the Boards of Metrolinx, and by extension Go Transit, of all politicians. The fear was that political reps were bogged down in parochial fights rather than on strategically developing the new provincial thrust. We saw that locally when Mayor Fred was trying to lead an impossible fight to have Hamilton leap-frog over some other communities, threatening to not support other efforts unless his were also dealt with. He, of course didn’t succeed. The problem with bringing Council-style horse-trading to a board trying to be arms-length from parochial politics is encumbering the new organization with old-style thinking. The broom was quick and it swept cleanly.

The new Hamilton appointee to the Metrolinx Board is Richard Korocil, better known as the CEO of our very own Hamilton International Airport. Richard is an excellent choice. Unlike Fred (or anyone else for that matter, as Mayor) having to be seen as advancing Hamilton’s interests, Richard is keenly aware of what we need locally, but can bring his regional experience and transportation knowledge to the table. He will be taken much more seriously than a politician might.

I am sure that Richard may not be the choice of some public transit advocates in the Hamilton community because of his close ties to the airport and his stalwart championing of the lands surrounding the airport. He certainly won’t be a favoured choice of City Hall’s own anti-business lobby group, CATCH because they see the airport as contrary to their Marxist-Leninist approach to the economy. However, Richard’s choice will be welcomed by the business community and should be welcomed by all citizens who are interested in advancing our public transit strategy locally and provincially. He will make himself heard and will carry sufficient gravitas which will resonate well where it counts, around the Board table. This can’t help but assist our city.


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