Crombie questions Mississauga's ability to pay for LRT airport extension

With Toronto set to vote this week on funding for Mayor John Tory's SmartTrack transit plan, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie said her city can't afford to kick in some $470 million to expand the Eglinton-Crosstown lightrail line into Misssissauga and Pearson Airport. 

"If we were asked to contribute such and amount – half a billion dollars – it wouldn't allow us to build any of our own priorities for well into a couple of decades," Crombie said Monday on Metro Morning. 

A report from Toronto's city manager surfaced last week that suggests Mississauga and the Greater Toronto Airport Authority pay 19 per cent of the cost of expanding the Eglinton line into Mississauga. 

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A problem for Crombie is that no one from the City of Toronto had talked to them about this payment idea before publicly releasing the report.

Crombie said she supports transit, but points out that her city isn't equipped to raise the money to cover such a project.

"The city of Toronto has different taxation powers and they do have the ability to raise money with means other than property taxes in user fees, which we do not," she said. 

Mr. Tory, we're not going to pay for your wall.- Coun. Jim Tovey

Other Mississauga politicians weren't so measured in their response to news that Toronto intended that Mississauga cover the Eglinton LRT extension.

Coun. Jim Tovey even compared Tory to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his plan to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, and have the Mexican government pick up the cost.

"Mr. Tory, we're not going to pay for your wall," said Coun. Tovey at a meeting last week.

Tovey said he first read about the plan in the Toronto Star.

"I have great respect for Mayor Tory and for my colleagues in Toronto, but the analogy really is that Trump's just said to Mexico, I'm building a wall you're paying for it," Tovey told Metro Morning on Thursday.

"Mexico hadn't heard about it, there was no negotiation, no talking."

The report says the City of Toronto would pay $1.175 billion towards the $2.47 billion project, and the federal government would contribute $822.9 million.

Mississauga City Manager Janice Baker also said she has not been officially approached on the matter, and that there's still a lot of work on this file that needs to be done.

"We have not entered into any conversations or negotiations," she said.

"I think reading it in the paper is probably not a good first step."

Tory says discussions just beginning

Last week, Tory told reporters that formal discussions with Mississauga will happen soon.

"The discussions are just at the beginning, and next week Toronto city council will give authority to sit down with Mississauga and formally discuss payment options," he said.

Tory said this project will benefit everyone, and that connecting Mississauga and Toronto via transit is overdue.

"I believe we're going to take a major step to move it forward. We want to do it in partnership both financial and very genuine partnership," he said.

Tory said he has a "excellent, constructive, productive, friendly relationship with Bonnie Crombie" and that he spoke with her Thursday morning.

"There is some rhetoric that finds its way into today's news, and that's fine. I'm a big boy," said Tory.

"I understand how these things happen and we'll just move ahead with the constructive discussions to find a way to get this done."

May be better transit options: Tovey

Coun. Tovey, however, said paying for a link to the airport might not be the best option for Mississauga.

"I'm not saying we shouldn't pay any of the bill, what I'm saying is is that particular location, the airport," he said.

"Our current studies would suggest that a far greater number of people who are going to Toronto are going through the Dundas Street corridor and the Lakeshore corridor."

Tovey said there should be one body that looks after all regional transportation and planning for the GTA.