Hamilton mayor pens open letter to premier over LRT cancellation
Published December 18, 2019 at 8:13 pm
Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger has penned an open letter to Premier Doug Ford to express the city’s disappointment in the Province’s decision to cancel the LRT and to ask for clarification on the
Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger has penned an open letter to Premier Doug Ford to express the city’s disappointment in the Province’s decision to cancel the LRT and to ask for clarification on the numbers that led to the decision.
In the letter, dated Wednesday (Dec. 18), Eisenberger writes that Hamiltonians are “reeling” from the abrupt cancellation of the massive transit project that has been more than a decade in the making.
“This investment would have created hundreds of jobs, economic uplift, increased affordable housing, cut CO2 emissions and built a City of Hamilton ready for the future,” he wrote.
“Instead, millions of dollars have been wasted doing advance engineering work and preparations.”
Eisenberger goes on to point out that Metrolinx is now the biggest landlord in the city after having bought dozens of properties along the proposed LRT corridors to accommodate the project.
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In fact, a number of businesses and residents have been displaced as a result of the acquisitions.
He goes on to decry the Minister of Transportation’s, Caroline Mulroney, handling of the announcement on Monday (Dec. 16) and the provincial government’s lack of transparency in arriving at their decision, despite repeated assurances from the province that the project would be supported.
“This is a personal betrayal by you as Premier,” Eisenberger wrote. “I thought you were a man of your word, but I was wrong. That is why I now call this a betrayal.”
City staff reportedly received preliminary cost estimates from the MTO last Thursday (Dec. 12), but, Eisenberger writes, they were not given the opportunity to question how the estimates were arrived at.
Since the project’s cancellation, however, the Hamilton Spectator revealed the mayor had been warned as early as September that costs for the project were soaring but he kept it from the rest of council because, as he told columnist Andrew Dreschel: “I didn’t believe the numbers.”
The Mayor’s open letter comes a day after some city councillors took matters into their own hands to demands answers and fight for the LRT.
Ward 1 councillor Maureen Wilson sent an open letter to Mulroney Tuesday to demand that the report that allegedly killed the project, prepared in secret by a third party hired by the province, be made public.
“The content of that analysis and the methodology used in the project assessment are of great interest to me and all Hamiltonians,” Wilson said in the letter.
“Since the analysis formed the basis of you and your Government’s decision with respect to Hamilton’s LRT I trust you will share it publicly.”
Ward 3 Councillor Nrinder Nann called for an emergency City Council meeting where she plans to introduce a motion that asks the city to “re-commit to use the entire $1.3b promised to build the LRT system, exactly as has already been exhaustively planned and approved, nothing else.”
Nann’s motion also insists that the city seek a partnership with the Federal Government to complete the project.
Photo courtesy Mayor Fred Eisenberger’s Facebook page
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