My question is for the Premier. On Eglinton Avenue East in Scarborough, 10 to 12 sections of brand new sidewalk were just dug up because of deficiencies in the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. This happened a year after the Sloane station on this platform’s project was jackhammered and carried away in pieces. We’re going into the 13th year of this project—three years late, $1 billion over budget. That is the record of Metrolinx and Phil Verster, its million-dollar CEO. They don’t build transit; they break it. They don’t finish projects; they extend them.

To the Premier: When will this government hold Mr. Verster and Metrolinx accountable?

Under this government’s watch—they can’t blame anybody else—in 2020, the Auditor General told them that the Eglinton Crosstown LRT was being built “at risk.” Metrolinx, Phil Verster and their P3 buddies carried on despite that risk, and now we have at least 260 deficiencies in this project that this government will not answer for.

When will this government do what a competent government would do and fire Phil Verster? Signal that you demand change for the hard-working taxpayers of this province. Tell the people of Scarborough, tell the people of Toronto that a new day is coming; that we’re going to build and not break public transit.

My question is to the Premier. Last week, I asked the committee on government agencies to call Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster to answer questions about the failing Eglinton Crosstown LRT. Unfortunately, the government members voted against that motion.

The Eglinton Crosstown LRT is a billion dollars over budget and three years late. It has at least 260 deficiencies, right down to the rails. Taxpayers have spent over $500 million as the partners building this project have been suing each other under Mr. Verster’s watch, but we found out this morning, through disclosure, that his contract has been renewed for three years. Why?

Wasn’t this the government, Speaker, that said the party with the taxpayers’ dollars is over? If that’s the case, if they believe that, then why are they rewarding Metrolinx executives who are failing the province of Ontario? Why can’t we ask them questions at the committee and why, for heaven’s sake, are they putting up ministers to defend a failing executive? Why is Mr. Verster still employed by the province of Ontario?

Interjections.

Back to the Premier: The Eglinton Crosstown LRT is a mess. Sadly, I’ve seen this movie before. Its budget has doubled, using the same P3 consultants that built Ottawa’s struggling LRT. Phil Verster from Metrolinx noted 260 deficiencies in this project at a press conference with the minister this morning but gave the public no details at all. That is not acceptable. The newly built Sloane station had to be ripped apart this week. Metrolinx has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars to the P3 consortium building this project already, but the project is falling behind and creating deficiencies. Will the government tell this House and the public what is wrong with the Crosstown LRT, yes or no?

Back to the Premier: We’ve talked to the neighbours around the Sloane station of the Eglinton LRT. Do you know what they tell us, Speaker? There’s a smell coming from that station, and it’s not construction dust. The smell is corruption. So what about some specific questions?

What about some specific questions? What about Brian Guest, the disgraced consultant who helped build the Ottawa LRT, who this government fired in January? The Minister of Transportation promised this House there would be an investigation into Mr. Guest? Well, I’ve FOI-ed it, Speaker. There has been no investigation into Brian Guest.

The costs keep getting racked up, so the question we need to have answered in this House is, how many more consultants like Mr. Guest are going to get rich while Crosstown costs go through the roof? How many more deficient projects are they going to build? And more importantly, Speaker, will this government today, as it did when we demanded it from Ottawa, declare a public inquiry into this mess? Simple answer to the question: yes or no?

My question is for the Premier.

The Eglinton Crosstown LRT is two years late and $1 billion over budget. This government has missed two deadlines for it to open.

To make matters worse, leaked emails note the government is now silencing Metrolinx, who prepared a video update on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. The Premier’s office’s staff would not allow that video update to be seen by the public.

A simple question to the Premier: What are you trying to hide?

Back to the Premier: The problem for our city, in Toronto, here, is that the P3 consultants who designed our failing LRT are the same ones this government has under contract for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, and red flags are popping up everywhere. For example, CityNews Toronto documented buckets of broken-up chunks of the Sloane station platform at Eglinton and Bermondsey, with barricades all of a sudden up everywhere after this LRT station appeared poised to open.

Over the weekend, the Toronto Star reported, as I said before, that Metrolinx officials are frustrated with this Premier’s staff silencing them when they’re trying to give the public an update on the project.

Speaker, I agree with Councillor Colle and Councillor Matlow and others who said we need a public inquiry into this mess. That was something good enough for Ottawa. It should be good enough for the city of Toronto.

Will the government commit to a public inquiry of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT today? Yes or no?

Interjections.

Back to the transportation minister: As my colleague from Toronto just said, transit riders and transit workers are at their wits’ end in this province. In Ottawa, too, we are facing service cuts, and the folks who are driving those buses and trains are exhausted because there’s not enough support for them.

We just heard the minister talk about future transit plans, but what I know about the Eglinton Crosstown LRT is that this is a plan right now that’s a $1 billion over budget and two years past due.

So I’m asking the minister plaintively: Their transit sector allies are telling us they need $500 million in emergency funding for the operating system. Will the government come through on that today?