Three years before Premier Doug Ford’s government cancelled the Hamilton LRT over what it described as skyrocketing costs, Metrolinx and the Ministry of Transportation knew the project would be significantly more expensive than the $1 billion public estimate, according to Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk.
In her annual report released Monday, Lysyk also determined the updated $5.5-billion estimate Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney cited in December 2019 as justification for pulling the plug on the LRT was a “reasonable” projection.
But while Premier Doug Ford held up Lysyk’s report as vindication of the province’s decision to scrap the LRT, opposition figures said her report presented a distorted picture of how the government communicates the cost of transit projects.
“Now the auditor general came out and confirmed the numbers we have said,” Ford declared at a news conference Monday.
“The only difference between us and the Liberals, as soon as we found out, we were transparent, compared to (Ontario Liberal Leader and former transportation minister) Steven Del Duca. They wanted to hide it and mislead the people of Hamilton,” he said.
Del Duca fired back in a statement, accusing the auditor of looking at the Hamilton LRT in isolation, even though the government used the same process to communicate its investment in major provincial transit projects like GO Transit expansion, the Hurontario LRT and Finch LRT.
“Despite this fact, Doug Ford chose to proceed with those other projects and chose to only single out the City of Hamilton and deliver a reckless and devastating cut to their transit needs,” Del Duca said.
The Ford government’s abrupt cancellation of the LRT a year ago has arguably been the Ontario PC’s most controversial decision on the transit file. At the time, it was blasted by Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger as a “betrayal” of the city.
The $5.5 billion estimate Mulroney cited in December 2019 as evidence the LRT had grown too expensive was prepared by a consultant and included not only construction expenditures but also costs related to financing, vehicles and long-term operation and maintenance.
The previous Ontario Liberal government had committed in 2015 to build the LRT at $1 billion, a figure that only included the cost to construct the LRT. Lysyk’s report confirmed that “the Ministry of Transportation was aware as early as December 2016 that the estimated costs for the project were significantly higher than its public commitment of $1 billion,” and the fact the total cost would be greater wasn’t publicly communicated until 2019.
As previously reported by the Star, the report confirmed that in March 2018 the Ontario Liberal government quietly approved a budget of about $3.7 billion for the Hamilton LRT, a figure that included $1 billion for construction plus the other project requirements. The auditor determined that figure was likely low.
Lysyk acknowledged Monday she couldn’t say whether by publicly citing the $1 billion construction cost, the previous government had treated the price tag for the Hamilton LRT differently than other projects.
For instance, the $5.3 billion estimate commonly cited under both the current and former government for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT also only refers to construction costs. (The total bill for Eglinton will come to more than $12 billion, according to a the province’s approved budget).
Lysyk told reporters her office “just looked at this particular situation” with the Hamilton LRT. “Obviously there was some misunderstandings in the public communication originally around the $1 billion,” she said.
Despite cancelling the LRT a year ago, Ford pledged Monday he would get the light rail line built “one way or the other.” His government is promising a total of $1 billion for Hamilton transit, but an LRT would require additional funding.
Andrea Horwath, leader of the opposition NDP and MPP for Hamilton Centre, accused Ford of making empty promises and said if he truly wanted to get the LRT built “he should have made the announcement today that the funding will be in place.”
“So where’s the commitment?” she asked, arguing that the premier is funding other expensive transit projects while forcing Hamilton to look for money “under any rock and every crevice.”
She noted his $1 billion commitment for Hamilton transit was about $2.7 billion less than the Liberals approved for total costs of the LRT in 2018. “It looks to me likes a cut in terms of a financial commitment, and that’s just not acceptable,” she said.
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The auditor recommended future estimates for the cost of LRT projects include all components, to which Metrolinx agreed.
“Metrolinx takes seriously both its obligations to be transparent with the public and to protect financial interests of Ontario,” the agency said in its official response to the report. It said the Hamilton case had shown the importance of reviewing cost estimates mid-procurement, and pledged to share updated figures with municipalities and “publicly report all financial information at the most detailed level that can be responsibly disclosed.”
In addition to her findings on the Hamilton LRT, the auditor’s report also determined that Metrolinx’s “weak” cybersecurity practices had led to two significant security breaches in recent years, and the agency had engaged Accenture for work on the Presto system worth $1.7 billion through a pre-existing contract without issuing competitive procurements.