I am the President of the Toronto-based Better Transportation Coalition of
Ontario. It has existed as an NGO since the early 90`s. We used to get funding
from the Province in order to hire a few workers who helped us set up the
Coalition and spread the word about better transportation across Ontario. The
Harris Government promptly cancelled this funding as soon as they were elected
in `95. Consequently, the Province has stopped funding transit projects and
sustainable transportation projects. Instead we have a situation where Toronto
transit users, for example, pay over 80% of the cost of transit.
Highway projects get full funding from all three levels of government (such as
the Red Hill Expressway in Hamilton) and the Front Street Extension (FSE)
project in Toronto. Thus public transportation for children, the poor, the
disabled, and senior citizens are totally ignored. The new Liberal provincial
government has promised some changes. The Red Hill project, however, is still
being funded, FSE has not been given a full environmental assessment to
adequately look at transit alternatives (GO and LRT service), and that
government has just announced the construction/funding of new High Occupancy
Vehicle (HOV) lanes in southern Ontario which clearly should be only implemented
using existing lanes (otherwise an increase in car traffic will obviously
occur). This list goes on at all levels of government.
In fact, the preoccupation with increasing single-occupancy motor vehicle use
promises to fill our precious air with more and more toxic smog. This is
happening even as our children are increasingly suffering from asthma and our
population is aging with increasing chances of environmental illness due to
toxic air and dangerous road traffic.
We (BTC) had a meeting last January where we decided to focus on a couple of
projects (FSE and Red Hill) to dramatize the need for the funding of public
transit by our taxes at all levels. This needs to be the dominant and excellent
form of transportation that, with walking and cycling, can improve the quality
of the air and transportation for everyone all at the same time. This is a key
to improving as well the liveability and economic viability of our cities and
towns as has been shown in Europe and in such American cities as Portland
Oregon.
To work on the FSE we have set up front&centre which has a website under
that name. FSE is an excellent example of how wrong-headed the expenditure of
our public tax dollars on roads is. Roads are largely for private
single-occupancy cars. In the case of the FSE (at least a $1/4 billion) it is
essentially a way of expanding the Gardiner Expressway which already acts as a
terrible concrete barrier to the Waterfront whose noise ruins the peace and
beauty of High Park and the efforts on the Waterfront to create such places as
the Yo-Yo Ma Music Garden.
We are using the front&centre as a means of dramatizing this public transit
issue at all three levels of government.

Joan Doiron

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