Ford says ending the 'war on cars' a top priority

"I ran on a platform as mayor of subways, and I was elected with quite a large mandate to build subways, and that's what I'm going to do," he told reporters.

But his opponents on city council vowed to defend the Transit City light rail plan.

"We are, for the first time, expanding transit across this city that we've waited generations for," said Coun. Janet Davis (Ward 31, Beaches-East York). "And the mayor can't walk in on Day One and say, 'It's gone.'"

Former Mayor David Miller's administration came up with the $6-billion Transit City plan, which would build a 120-kilometre network of light rail transit across Toronto.

Subways cost about six times more per kilometre to build than light rail, but Ford said voters want subways.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the war on the car stops today," Ford announced. "We will not build any more rail tracks down the middle of our streets."

The news conference came after a busy morning for the newly minted mayor, whose first order of business was to tell the TTC chief general manager Gary Webster to abandon the Transit City project -- portions of which are already under construction.

"He has asked the TTC to work with Metrolinx and our board… on a new plan, a revised plan, that is more consistent with his vision for subways," Webster said after the morning meeting. Webster said the TTC would report back to the mayor in about six weeks.

About $130 million has already been spent by the province to build the light rail. Ford said the TTC board would put a "full stop" to spending at its first meeting on Dec. 8.

At Queen's Park, Premier Dalton McGuinty said he would work with Ford on revising the city's transit plans. He has previously said the provincial government would not pay any new expenses incurred in the shift.

Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynne echoed that, saying, "I don't know exactly what the cost would be to get out of any of those contracts, but we've got $1.3 billion already committed in contracts."

Top priorities

Ford listed his administration's other priorities:

improving customer service at City Hall
boosting government accountability
reducing the size and cost of government

"My campaign was based on a simple idea, that city hall should respect the taxpayer," Ford said. "That simple message reflected what people across this great city were saying, and what they continue to expect from this new city council"

Ford said his staff would be meeting with the city manager to discuss how to build a culture of customer service. He vowed that every phone call and every email sent to City Hall would receive a response.

"Toronto taxpayers expect the wasteful spending and the annual tax increases to come to an end. Toronto taxpayers do not want a larger budget and more spending," Ford said.

The city would work to a flat budget for 2011 with no major cuts to services, he said.

City council's first meeting will be a busy one. Ford said they would put an end to the city's $60 vehicle registration tax and move to declare the TTC an essential service, stripping its workers of the ability to go on strike.

Ford's detractors were also active on Wednesday. Several groups, including the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty and No One is Illegal Toronto, were planning to picket outside City Hall to give Ford "the welcome he deserves."

According to a news release, the groups oppose Ford's plans to cut the city's fair wage policy and his plans for the TTC, and want his new administration to subsidize childcare and support community services.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Alicia Markson

Comments are now closed for this story

G Gordon Litty
said

Build more subways. They don't get stuck in the snow. Forget about extensions, there needs to be secondary lines that go downtown, especially during rush hour. Maybe an express tunnel that peels off of the main line. It could also be used in case there is a problem and reduce the need for shuttle buses.

chris
said

Hi all of you
please take few hours brake of computers and do the car ride along St. Clair Ave . See in your own eyes, and feel the pain of driving along St.Clair Ave. , even more, try to figureout how they going to clean the snow in winter.
. it is simply impossible. and simple car ride is like a nightmare.
Now think of all these major streets look like St.Clair Ave with it's fancy streetcar lines and islands in the middle of the street. What kind of city planing we are talking about ? what is responible for it ? Who aprove all of it? never mind question,who took the money for these nonsens ?
Common sense people !.
Good , that Mayor Ford has stop it, becouse tommorow we might wake up and find bicycle lines in the middle of Hwy 401 . I wonder who is directly responsible ( His name ) for that project . It is realy frustraiting even talk about it.

Scot
said

Finally a real Mayor, Congrats Rob Ford.
Expand the Eglinton line to the Airport would be key to Mayor Ford's plan subway system.
Go Ford Go!!!

Lockerius
said

Well, he isn't the prettiest mayor we've ever had, and he surely isn't the most articulate, but when he says he is going to do something, i trust him more than any other politician to actually do it.

Give em hell Robby!!

anonymous
said

@Pip: FYI, a "majority" did not vote for Ford. He received the most votes, a "plurality", but not more than half of the votes.

Mike
said

When bicycle riders start to pay a fee to register their bicycles they can come on here and complain about our lack of bike lanes. Ford is right, move the bike lanes onto smaller streets where there is less traffic, this is the system they are using in Europe, and it's working there. Also the Streetcar Lanes on St. Clair killed most businesses, the same businesses that paid tax. Subways is the way to go, streetcars will still delay when there are accidents at intersections..

anonymous
said

Gord, you said "Streetcars may be quaint, but they're too inflexible for urban areas." Are subways more flexible than surface rail? When's the last time you saw the subway divert around a problem?

Alex
said

@ RJ in halifax
There is a very big difference between the cancelling of fighter jets and the cancelling of the transit plan. We do not have any need in Canada for jets that have a primary purpose of bombing, these are not fighter jets. There are planes that could do the job better and cheaper.
Toronto does need a transit system. Ford is cancelling the current plan and replacing it with no plan. All he has said is "more subways" which cost many times more to implement and have less flexibility than street cars, LTR and buses.

URU
said

piixiedust....perhaps you are one of those employees that I have mentioned on my last post. If Nr. Ford could save the city money, your cushioned job is cut.

NO SOUP FOR YOU!!!!

karl
said

Getting rid of the current transit plan shows good environmental awareness. Putting the public transit underground is by far the best we can do for the environment. Lets be realistic, the car is here to stay, we might not like it but its the reality. If you can drive from A-B in 15 minutes you create less pollution than if you drive the same distance for 40 minutes, is that not obvious!! Putting public transit underground is the way to go if we really care about the environment. Light train tracks create more congestion and more pollution. Drivers will continue driving and public transit users will continue with their good habits. Maybe Ford will come up with a plan to update the old technology that controls our traffic lights and add more roundabouts that keep the traffic flowing above ground and under it. Not sure as yet if I am a fan of Ford, but this single policy is just plain common sense the kind that was not present under Miller's crazy policies. Oh, I moved to Markham, fed up of the Miller years and the gridlock. In Markham the garbage collection is contracted out, it works so much better I can tell you from experience.

Mark
said

"No one is illegal" and "anti-poverty groups" protesting on the first day of Rob Ford's Mayoralty?

Can you say "CLOSE-MINDED"???

Gimme a break....

Elizabeth, Ontario
said

Finally some common sense in City Hall. Rob Ford will do a good job for Toronto, with realistic spending, and taxing. Go Ford Go!

Phil
said

Did Torontonians really vote for this clown? Reminds me of the guy who got elected in Ottawa because he promised to screw one portion of the city and cater to another one by violating a light rail contract and changing the plans. And then the city got sued.

If anything these guys are waging a war on public transportation. He knows that the subway plan will never work. That stuff is prohibitively expensive and takes years to get going. He'll be out of office before there is a plan.

David J
said

@JP... Well, Ford may have been "elected on a platform with a 1950's mentality," but he was elected by a wide majority, so that must be what people want.

Jay
said

@JP - nice of you to ignore the fact that additional population also equates to additional tax revenue ... oh, but as a lefty I'm guessing your point is all the extra people will be government assistance and not working or paying taxes.

Gypsy
said

To all those who voted for Ford: So when our roads are even more clogged with cars (if that's possible), when bike lanes are removed, and you're waiting for a streetcar or bus in the dead of winter to no avail,remember you got what you asked for --- a buffoon with no brains, no vision snd enough money to never have to worry about taking the TTC.

JP
said

Subways instead of light rail? Are you serious? Ending a 'war on cars' LMAO. This guy was elected on a platform with a 1950's mentality - get rid of government, build more streets, don't raise taxes but somehow keep services the same (inflation and population growth drive service demands)so as long as Toronto doesn't grow that's doable!! Just wait to see the tax hike in 3 years to make up for no tax increases now. Hope he shows more intelligence with spending than he does with his diet.

RJ in halifax
said

To all of you complaining about the cost of cancelling the light rail plan - do you feel the same way about the Liberals, NDP and Bloc's desire to cancel the plans for the new fighter jets the Federal Government has ordered? That one would be in the millions of dollars. Or are you just against a politician who is on the right hand side of centre?

piixiedust
said

UruMaybe with some of the money he saves while ruining the City of Toronto he could send you to school to learn proper english -

Jim Lad
said

What an excellent backdrop.Does anyone know whose art this is?

Ross
said

Just what is the cancellation of the contracts for the light rail going to cost us... I thought this man was going to save the city money... on his first day on the job he is already costing the city money with his insane idea of more subway lines. Light Rail has already been proven more cost effective than his cockamamy idea of subway lines. Further I would seriously like to know how much the penalties will be on the cancelled contracts, as all contracts have cancellation clauses.

Gord
said

Atta boy Rob. No more St Clair LRT abominations and planned LRT abominations along Eglington, Kennedy to Keele. Streetcars may be quaint, but they're too inflexible for urban areas.Underground subways connecting to busses is the way to go. But where's the money to do all of this?

wWelland Guy
said

Does this mean that the millions already spent are wasted? If the existing plan of Light rail is put on the back-burner and subways are the new route - does that mean that the moneys already promised for the light rail system by the provincial government will be redirected? I would hope not as the rest of Ontario taxpayers would then have wasted money and Ford will ask for new funding, it is presumed. I think not, Toronto. You voted him in, you can pay for your mistakes.

Cambob in Toronto
said

@ Russ: Do you even pay attention? Ford has already moved on the car tax and on day one he is moving on the transit promise.

CYL
said

TTC needs a overhaul with it's existing routes never mind the add-ons. The crunch is that if you don't want tax increases then tolerate what's now. Maybe just a paint job and a little cleaning could do the trick !!!

RJ
said

It's always interesting to see these fringe groups making "demands" about issues the voters have clearly rejected, while the majority of people "ask" or "seek" to get things changed. It seems democracy is only a good thing if it does what you want it to. If it doesn't, then democracy has somehow "failed".

Russ
said

Like any politician running for office, he will say whatever needs to be said to please the masses. However, once in office, don't sit by and wait for the promises to happen. Thats just the nature of the game. Alot of you will be disappointed with Fords decisions, don't take it personally, it just business. You voted him, now prepare to pay the consequences.

Peter
said

From someone who has lived in the St. Clair area for 27 years, I can tell you closing down the light rail plans is a bad idea. Although I would agree that the St. Clair project was very badly scheduled and managed, the final outcome has improved our area 10 fold. Not only do we have people coming to the area as an "it" place to eat rather than leaving the area to eat, my daily (ttc user) travel to and from work during rush hour has been quickened dramatically; we have rid ourselves of all the stupid u-turners and double parkers that used to be in the area. We have new businesses that makes the area a bustling area. The other thing I find is comments about streetcars being our double deckers - one of the first things many visitors want to do is ride a streetcar as visitors to London want to ride on a double decker. St. Clair, Spadina and the waterfront have all been improved by streetcars.
The expense of subways is out of our reach today...financially, and is an idiotic idea with all the natural disasters happening around the world. Every time you tunnel underground, you weaken the infra-structure and make it more likely that our city which is on a fault line might be visited by one also.

Roy
said

Dear Rob Ford,

I didn't vote for you because I didn't think that you were the best man for the job. I still feel that way about you. Now that you're in office, I hope that you can prove me wrong !!

The best of luck and may you have great success in improving Toronto for all of us who love our city.

Roy

James
said

First, contract out the garbage collection for sure. Then contract out as many services as possible like any individual or company would do to try and get the best value for the taxpayer. The public sector has lived in a fairy tale for too long.

Prof. Pye Chartt
said

Finally, somebody with some fiscal and strategic sense is in the Mayor's office. (You could have handed former Mayor Miller a cheque for $10B and he'd have spent it in a week on fantastical utopian visions that led the City of Toronto nowhere. Nice man; but, an obstinate left-wing fool.) Good luck, Mayor Ford. (Just ignore the raging chorus of entitled whiners. It's their "job.")

Cam West
said

Wow is he a relative of King Ralf? Maybe he can come back to Alberta and set things right again.

Pip
said

"Several groups . . . were planning to picket outside City Hall to give Ford "the welcome he deserves"". So, a mayor who is elected through a democratic process is not acceptable to a minority who believe that their demands (not voted upon by the electorate) are more important than the platform he ran on, and that convinced a majority to vote for. How democratic! No doubt "several groups" feel that their brand of "democracy" (the dictatorship of the proletariat, perhaps? We all know where THAT led)is the only "True" democracy.

Wanda
said

So many are "assuming" Mr. Ford is going to a bad job...but then they are probably the same people who "assumed" David Miller would do a good job.
Therefore, I say Happy First Day on the Job Mr. Ford! All the best and good luck!

URU
said

Mr. Ford, congrats on your first day!!!

Now, lets get down to business, pls clean up the transit and it's lazy employees that do nothing. Those I see everyday walk around doing little while getting paid overtime for doing nothing except walk around. This is a waste of tax payers $$$$. They think that they are in a union and they can't be touched. That needs to change NOW!!!!

As for the city workers, its about the same, lots of lazy workers doing nothing and getting over apid for nothing.

And as for those construction contracts, pls toughten up the outlines. I see alot of construction workers stand around and watch the other 1 or 2 people working while 30 people watch on. You can get standbys to do that for free. Get rid of those who don't want to work. Make them paid back for the deadlines that do not meet.

Lets get the city going again.

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