Commission on the Reform of Ontario's Public Services

Transportation
Chapter 12: Infrastructure, Real Estate and Electricity
The Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) is one of the fastest-growing regions in
North America. By 2031, it is estimated that the GTHA will grow from over six million to nearly
nine million people, the equivalent of moving the population of Greater Montreal into
the GTHA. 7
A population influx of that magnitude will place stress on public infrastructure, much of which
is nearing full capacity. Gridlock on the GTHA’s roads and highways is already problematic.
At present, the average Toronto round-trip commute is estimated to be 82 minutes, the longest
for any North American city. It is estimated that this congestion costs $6 billion annually in lost
productivity. If the population of the GTHA increases to the level expected, within 25 years that
cost would rise to $15 billion and the average round-trip commute time would reach a
staggering 109 minutes.
Public transit must surely be part of the solution and we recognize that Metrolinx released
a 25-year plan in 2008 entitled “The Big Move.” But with an overall capital cost estimate of
$50 billion, of which only $11.5 billion has received a funding commitment, 8 seeing this plan
through to fruition while maintaining existing transportation infrastructure poses a serious
financial hurdle to the province. Overcoming this massive funding gap is the elephant in the
transit room. With few exceptions, public discourse on the actions needed to meet this
challenge — or the consequences of not acting — has simply not materialized with any degree
of provincewide prominence.
It would be completely disingenuous to suggest that plucking the low-hanging fruit is sufficient
to fix the problem — it is not. However, we must again emphasize that our mandate does not
allow us to recommend tax increases. This limitation prevents us from undertaking a more
complete review of the means to fund public transit investment over the next generation.
Accordingly, we turn our attention to reforms on the expenditure side of the ledger.
7 Material in this and the following paragraphs is drawn from Metrolinx, “The Big Move: Transforming Transportation in the Greater Toronto
and Hamilton Area,” November 2008, downloaded from http://www.metrolinx.com/thebigmove/Docs/big_move/TheBigMove_020109.pdf.
8 As noted in “The Big Move,” p. 70, the province has committed $11.5 billion to support Metrolinx’s plan through the province’s
MoveOntario 2020 initiative.
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