My question is for the Premier. It begins with some unfortunate news for this House, however: There is something growing faster in Ontario than the number of six-figure staffers in the Premier’s office. It’s the army of vice-presidents that work for CEO of Metrolinx, Phil Verster.

My question to the Premier is very simple: Can he say to this House if he has confidence in Metrolinx right now and its executive leadership?

So, my question again to the honourable gentleman: Please, for the transit users who work in this province, why are you rewarding failure? When will you rein in the gravy train at Metrolinx? It’s time for action.

Well, I guess back to the Premier: The transit riders of the GTA just got your answer—no apology. Metrolinx can have a million-dollar CEO that runs insulting ads that cost the people of this province $2.5 million, and no one on that side of the House today will stand up and apologize. That’s a shame.

But do you know what also is a shame, Speaker? I’ve learned from an internal source at Metrolinx that they have over 400 staff alone in communications and marketing—400. If you eyeball a $60,000 salary, that’s $8.5 million. What limits is this government going to allow Phil Verster, their million-dollar man, to go in spending the people’s money and insulting transit riders as they fail to build transit?

Speaker, for the sixth time in this House, I will rise and insist that this government do the right thing and fire Phil Verster.

My question is for the Premier. Recently, Metrolinx put out insulting ads that were called, See Beyond the Construction, that ran in movie theatres across the GTA—Speaker, those are the ads you see when you to go a film. But these ads mocked transit riders who were legitimately complaining about broken deadlines and massive cost overruns in the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. But following public outrage and loud groans in movie theatres—believe me—the ad campaign was yanked from Metrolinx’s YouTube page. But we have since discovered that this ad campaign alone cost $2.5 million.

So, Speaker, will the Premier rise in this place today and apologize to transit users, apologize to the taxpayers of Ontario for this terrible ad by Metrolinx?

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. For weeks on this side of the House, we have demanded that the government fire Mr. Phil Verster, CEO of Metrolinx, because of the many failures under his watch, but this gentleman earns $1 million a year and he’s just had his contract renewed for three years.

But yesterday, we learned that the government has removed Janet Ecker, a former Tory cabinet minister, from the Metrolinx board in the middle of her term. Reports suggest that it was due to a column she wrote that criticized the “chaotic decision-making process” that led to the greenbelt fiasco.

Speaker, to the Premier: What message is he trying to send? Is it that the Premier can excuse gross incompetence with Mr. Verster, but criticism will not be tolerated?

Will this government get serious about the transit system we have—not the systems they want to exist some day; the buses and trains and streetcars we have—and make sure that they get the $500 million that they need, they fire Mr. Verster right now and insist we get our transit system back on track?

Interjections.

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.

To my friend from Oshawa, thank you for those remarks. I wanted to follow up on something given the skepticism you expressed and others have expressed about Metrolinx’s capacity to build transit. It would seem this bill itself, as I mentioned earlier in debate, is a vote of non-confidence in Metrolinx if we’re asking municipalities to take on this risk burden.

I also note, from the Auditor General’s 2020 report on the Eglinton Crosstown, my friend, that Metrolinx was continuing to work with an agency, Crosslinx, despite the fact that Crosslinx has over 380 rejected designs. They were continuing to build in a capacity called “building at risk,” which meant they were building with designs that had not been properly approved by people required to scrutinize them.

So, my friend from Oshawa, what the heck is going on at Metrolinx?

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?

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.

As my friend from Oakville just said, this is a discussion that we have to have and the member from London West has said it very clearly: The government made a decision in 2019, through Metrolinx, to cancel the project. I remember the early days of this government. To those of us who were here, it was like, “anything Liberal, Hulk smash.” It was just this impulse to destroy anything that the previous-to-them government had done.

I had a lot of criticisms of that government, but Metrolinx made a terrible decision. You don’t build charging stations—member, I’m asking you to react to this—in 2019 to pilot them and think about them—it was a three-year pilot—in a single year. There are people who lived close to those charging stations, not just people using the GO stations. There are communities that we want to hub around them. Having four or five chargers at ONroute stations doesn’t meet the need.

Member, don’t you think we need mandatory changes to the building code to get condominium buildings to put in EV chargers? We need EV chargers in communities. We need them to be affordable and accessible to support the cars this government wants to build. I’m just wondering if you could elaborate on that for my friend over there.