Ontario won’t release report on cost of scrapped Hamilton LRT project
- Michael Kras
- 19 Dec 2019
In a curious and questionable twist following the blindsiding cancellation of Hamilton’s LRT project on Monday December 16th, the Conservative provincial government has said that it will not be releasing the third-party report and data used to justify cancelling the major city transit development.
Ontario minister of transportation Caroline Mulroney, who was at the centre of the chaotic announcement Monday afternoon, has publicly said that the report contains information that the LRT project, which had an initial budget set at $1 billion, would now cost over $5.5 billion to complete.
Trying to figure out if the new #LRT costs put forward by @C_Mulroney made any sense in the context of other provincial LRT projects. It is some funny math to suggest that #hamiltonLRT is going to cost more than double any other line on a $/km basis. pic.twitter.com/bBQyJfywov
— Graham McNally (@graham_mcnally) December 19, 2019
So why won’t the report be released for public access? As stated by a spokesperson for the ministry, it contains “proprietary and commercial information” which ultimately prevents its public release.
“Our government is committed to transparency, which is why we are releasing the key information from the latest cost estimate without jeopardizing the commercial sensitivity of other transit projects,” said ministry spokesperson Callum Elder.
The refusal to release a report has naturally been cause for some suspicion regarding its complete contents. In fact, NDP leader Andrea Horwath accuses the government of making excuses in order not to release the findings, and demands a release of the report in order to verify the study. Horwath cites the fact that the current available information doesn’t match with that of similar transit projects commissioned in other parts of Ontario.
While it’s uncertain whether or not the PC government will bend to demands and reveal the information, Mulroney has said that the province plans to create a task force that will determine a $1 billion transit development plan for Hamilton.
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