I’ve made it very clear that our government is focused on making sure that the Eglinton Crosstown LRT opens, so that it is ready for commuters as soon as possible. But our number one priority is that when it opens, it is safe for commuters and it is safe for transit operators. Mr. Speaker, that is the number one lesson that we learned from the public inquiry into the Ottawa LRT.

I have made my expectations clear to Metrolinx. I expect them to get a credible schedule from CTS as soon as possible. But Mr. Speaker, safety is our number one priority, and we will not waver from that. It is essential that the service is safe for everyone to use. We are focused on getting it done, and we will.

Mr. Speaker, our plan was endorsed by city council, by York region and by the federal government, who recognizes our plan as so nationally significant that they agreed to fund 40% of the cost of our GTA and Hamilton transit plan.

The members opposite stand up in this House and claim to be defenders of transit, but when it actually comes to voting in favour of it—whether it’s for operational support during the pandemic, which they couldn’t bring themselves to support, or if it’s new lines that are—

I thank the member opposite for the question.

I’ve always been clear: Our government is committed to getting this transit system built, but we want to make sure that it is safe for transit riders when that happens.

I am extremely frustrated and disappointed by the latest delay tactics that CTS announced just this morning. It’s another delay tactic that’s just meant to distract and delay from the work that needs to get done, and it is unacceptable.

But to be clear, construction is still ongoing, and CTS still needs to provide Ontarians with a credible schedule. The project has gone on long enough. Communities across the Eglinton road and across Ontario have been waiting for too long for this transit system to open. I’ve been very clear with Metrolinx that they need to do everything they can to force CTS to provide us with a credible schedule that will allow us to give Ontarians, once and for all, a credible opening date.

Our government has been learning from the Liberal mistakes. That’s why, when we put forward our subway plan for the GTA, we decided to do things differently. We brought in the Building Transit Faster Act, a piece of legislation that allows us to get rid of unnecessary delays. We break up procurements on our new projects—learning from Liberal mistakes of the past.

And what are Ontarians seeing for these changes? They’re seeing real, significant progress on the Ontario Line, on the Scarborough subway extension, on the Eglinton Crosstown West extension, and on the Yonge North subway extension, which are all projects that member and her party opposite voted against.

Mr. Speaker, we are committed to delivering transit.

We will make sure that CTS provides us with a credible schedule. We will make sure that it opens, and when it does open, that it is safe for transit riders.

Mr. Speaker, we are learning from the Liberal mistakes. We are doing things differently. And we do have shovels in the ground on our priority transit projects. We will get those done.

With respect to CTS, we expect them to fulfill the commitments they made to the people of Ontario in 2011 and to open a transit system that works and that is safe.

Mr. Speaker, we’ve been clear. As soon as contracts are awarded, the values of those contracts are posted. They’re publicly available for anyone—for taxpayers and Global News—to examine as they wish.

What I know is, that member opposite and the Leader of the Opposition will do anything to make sure that we don’t build transit in the greater Toronto area. We’ve put out the largest transit expansion plan anywhere in North America, and that party voted against it. We brought forward measures to accelerate the delivery of transit, because we knew we had to address the transit deficit that was left by the previous Liberal government, who could not get transit built in the city of Toronto. We brought that forward. And what did they do? They all voted against it. It’s clear that this is why they are in opposition—because not only are they against transit; they’re against building it faster. It’s clear that they don’t even know how to get it—

In the early days of our first mandate, the Premier laid out our government’s plan to build badly needed transit in the greater Toronto area, and that includes the signature new Ontario Line.

Since those early days, we’ve taken our responsibility to taxpayers very seriously. That’s why our government passed, with no help from that member or the members of the opposition, the Building Transit Faster Act—because we know that time is money.

In addition to being able to deliver value for taxpayers, we also need to have a competitive procurement process, which is why our government decided to break up the procurement for the Ontario Line into three separate packages. As we refined estimates for those packages, they were commercially sensitive, but as soon as those contracts were awarded and have been awarded, they have been publicly posted online with their values. The South Civil has been valued at $6 billion, and a contract for the rolling stock, systems, and operations and maintenance has been valued at $9 billion.

The member opposite wants to talk about—