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+--- Thread: ION Phase 2 - Cambridge's Light Rail Transit (/showthread.php?tid=683)
RE: ION Phase 2 - Cambridge's Light Rail Transit - KevinL - 06-21-2019
The detailed-design stage will iron out any kinks - this is when the conservation authority, government ministries, and other big stakeholders get closely consulted on millimetre-scale placements. If major objections come up, then changes will occur.
RE: ION Phase 2 - Cambridge's Light Rail Transit - Bob_McBob - 06-21-2019
Mike Harris Jr. took credit for the funding of Phase 1 at the opening ceremony today in such a bumbling and poorly worded way it sounded like he was actually announcing new funding
RE: ION Phase 2 - Cambridge's Light Rail Transit - ijmorlan - 06-21-2019
(06-21-2019, 03:59 PM)Bob_McBob Wrote: Mike Harris Jr. took credit for the funding of Phase 1 at the opening ceremony today in such a bumbling and poorly worded way it sounded like he was actually announcing new funding
Hmmm, I must have missed the announcement from the Harris (other Mike)/Eves government about Ion funding
RE: ION Phase 2 - Cambridge's Light Rail Transit - Rainrider22 - 06-21-2019
Can we leave polarizing politics out of it for one day please!?
RE: ION Phase 2 - Cambridge's Light Rail Transit - Bob_McBob - 06-21-2019
I only mentioned it because I was watching the CTV live stream and literally thought I'd missed some kind of major funding announcement because of the way he worded it. I don't think it's really that polarizing to question the government of the day patting themselves on the back for their amazing investments in public transit infrastructure because of something the previous government did a decade ago. He was really playing up how it proud they were to make the "largest public transit investment ever" and how it fit into their vision for Ontario etc.
RE: ION Phase 2 - Cambridge's Light Rail Transit - Rainrider22 - 06-21-2019
Bob_McBob Wrote:I only mentioned it because I was watching the CTV live stream and literally thought I'd missed some kind of major funding announcement because of the way he worded it. I don't think it's really that polarizing to question the government of the day patting themselves on the back for their amazing investments in public transit infrastructure because of something the previous government did a decade ago. He was really playing up how it proud they were to make the "largest public transit investment ever" and how it fit into their vision for Ontario etc.You just made my point "government of the day patting themselves on the back". That's your personal bias or polarizing. Just one day please. Let's celebrate what a lot of hard working people did for the right reasons and be done with it.
RE: ION Phase 2 - Cambridge's Light Rail Transit - Bob_McBob - 06-22-2019
Sure, we can celebrate it in the Stage 1 thread. Meanwhile life goes on.
RE: ION Phase 2 - Cambridge's Light Rail Transit - Rainrider22 - 06-22-2019
Bob_McBob Wrote:Sure, we can celebrate it in the Stage 1 thread. Meanwhile life goes on.Ok that sounds like a plan. Cheers
RE: ION Phase 2 - Cambridge's Light Rail Transit - ijmorlan - 06-22-2019
(06-21-2019, 11:38 PM)Rainrider22 Wrote: Let's celebrate what a lot of hard working people did for the right reasons and be done with it.
I think the original point was that Harris was doing the opposite of what you suggest — he, and his government, had precisely zero to do with Ion funding and implementation (other than inheriting from their predecessors part of the problem with the delay from Metrolinx in getting the custom equipment ready). So instead of blathering about unrelated funding, he should have simply congratulated the team and the Region.
RE: ION Phase 2 - Cambridge's Light Rail Transit - jeffster - 06-22-2019
(06-22-2019, 08:56 AM)ijmorlan Wrote:(06-21-2019, 11:38 PM)Rainrider22 Wrote: Let's celebrate what a lot of hard working people did for the right reasons and be done with it.
I think the original point was that Harris was doing the opposite of what you suggest — he, and his government, had precisely zero to do with Ion funding and implementation (other than inheriting from their predecessors part of the problem with the delay from Metrolinx in getting the custom equipment ready). So instead of blathering about unrelated funding, he should have simply congratulated the team and the Region.
Really no different than the area MP's showing up like they had much to do with the LRT as it was the Conservatives that promised and put the money in.
Everyone likes to take credit where it isn't do.
If you recall, the province initially committed to paying 2/3 of the cost, then they broke that promise, but Ottawa ended up coming through for what the province skipped.
But Bob is right, Harris Jr and his party have nothing to do with this unless they promise to fund stage 2. Same applies to the MP's that were there from Ottawa. I am hoping that both levels can help out with the 2nd stage LRT, this would be nice.
RE: ION Phase 2 - Cambridge's Light Rail Transit - timc - 06-23-2019
(06-22-2019, 10:31 AM)jeffster Wrote: If you recall, the province initially committed to paying 2/3 of the cost, then they broke that promise, but Ottawa ended up coming through for what the province skipped.
That's not how I remember it. Yes, the province was going to pay 2/3 and broke the promise. But as I recall, the feds were already on board for ~1/3 of the cost, and most of the shortfall was covered through property tax increases.
RE: ION Phase 2 - Cambridge's Light Rail Transit - ijmorlan - 06-23-2019
(06-23-2019, 02:02 PM)timc Wrote:(06-22-2019, 10:31 AM)jeffster Wrote: If you recall, the province initially committed to paying 2/3 of the cost, then they broke that promise, but Ottawa ended up coming through for what the province skipped.
That's not how I remember it. Yes, the province was going to pay 2/3 and broke the promise. But as I recall, the feds were already on board for ~1/3 of the cost, and most of the shortfall was covered through property tax increases.
That’s my understanding as well. We had promises of 1/3 from the federal government and 2/3 from the provincial. But when the steel hit the track, the actual provincial contribution was just over 1/3, leaving almost 1/3 to be financed by the Region itself.
Not the only disappointing transit decision from the previous provincial government. Remember that Rob Ford is only responsible for less than a 2 year delay to the Transit City lines; most of the rest of the delay (so much that the Scarborough LRT lines appear not to be happening, most likely) was caused by dithering from the province. If they had simply re-started the Sheppard LRT process from where it was when Rob Ford stopped it we would now be riding LRT on Sheppard. And incidentally our LRT probably would have opened earlier because we wouldn’t have had to wait for Metrolinx to figure out the custom equipment because they would have needed it for themselves.
RE: ION Phase 2 - Cambridge's Light Rail Transit - jeffster - 06-23-2019
I thought I had recalled we had the promise from the province first, before the feds, but obviously I was wrong.
Either way, one has to hope that not only meet ridership goals, but actually exceed them. If we can do that, then Phase 2 will be much easier to approve.
RE: ION Phase 2 - Cambridge's Light Rail Transit - ijmorlan - 06-23-2019
(06-23-2019, 09:46 PM)jeffster Wrote: I thought I had recalled we had the promise from the province first, before the feds, but obviously I was wrong.
Either way, one has to hope that not only meet ridership goals, but actually exceed them. If we can do that, then Phase 2 will be much easier to approve.
I don’t recall the exact timing. But I’m pretty sure that at one point it looked like the combined contribution would pay the entire capital cost.
Part of the problem is that there are different kinds of announcements, and the media do a terrible job of nailing down which kind of announcement is what. Also, governments try to announce the same money as many times as possible, and again the media do a very bad job of making clear that this is happening. They should be much more clear when money is being re-announced, and whether or not there is a legal obligation to actually pay the money. For (hypothetical made up) example, instead of “Minister announces LRT funding”, it should be “Minister announces infrastructure grant will fund LRT” and the article should refer back to the date on which the infrastructure grant program was announced to make clear that the LRT announcement is just saying how some of the money from the previous announcement will be spent. Or instead of “Minister announces LRT funding” maybe it should be “Minister indicates willingness to consider funding LRT” or even “Minister indicates willingness to allocate infrastructure grant program money to LRT”.
These of course are too long for the headline, so maybe the headline should just be “Minister in town for LRT photo-op” and mention in the text of the article what they said about funding.
Probably wouldn’t make any difference in a society in which people don’t even understand the difference between deficit and debt, but it might be a start.
RE: ION Phase 2 - Cambridge's Light Rail Transit - Coke6pk - 07-05-2019
(06-21-2019, 10:59 PM)Rainrider22 Wrote: Can we leave polarizing politics out of it for one day please!?
At least he didn't mention the fact Mike Harris Jr. welcomed his fellow MPP's, and listed the PC members in attendance. I was sitting beside Laura Mae Lindo and Catherine Fife, and the look on their face...
That was a poor place for polarizing politics....
Coke