Two senior transit executives at Metrolinx appear to be the casualties of a major shakeup at the provincial transit agency, Global News has learned, as the Crown corporation struggles with the delayed delivery of multiple light rail vehicle projects.
On Tuesday, Metrolinx told employees that the agency’s chief planner and the chief operating officer of rapid transit had both left the company, as the planning department undergoes a complete overhaul.
The changes come in the wake of several Global News stories outlining the construction and financial challenges plaguing the Eglinton Crosstown, Finch West and Hurontario LRTs which have left all three projects without a completion date.
Metrolinx said its “mandate and the complexity” of the work it handles is changing, citing that as a reason for the internal shakeup.
The LRT delays have led to persistent calls for top-to-bottom transformation at Metrolinx, including the firing of its CEO Phil Verster, who remains in the position.
The changes, however, appear to relate to the province’s transit construction woes: one of the executives who left the agency was directly involved in the delivery of transit projects, while another dealt with public-private partnerships, also known as P3 projects.
A now-deleted description of the chief planning officer’s role said they had “overseen the construction and completion of countless instrumental infrastructural pieces” and “partnered with Infrastructure Ontario on the procurement of P3 projects.”
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The chief operating officer of rapid transit, who is also no longer with the agency, was “responsible for bringing into service the upcoming Light Rail Transit, and Subways Systems.”
Metrolinx said it would not comment on the employment of individual employment changes.
Multiple sources also confirmed the planning department — which had hundreds of staff — had been split and moved into various other areas of the organization.
The planning department’s responsibilities included design, business cases and land use decisions. Local and regional integration for the massive transit agency was also part of its role.
“Metrolinx’s mandate and the complexity of our work has increased significantly over the past several years. As a result, there is a need for the organization to evolve and adapt to deliver on North America’s largest transit expansion,” a Metrolinx spokesperson told Global News.
“This requires that the right combinations of people, competencies, processes, and structures are in place. It’s not unusual for organizations to make strategic changes to its management structure from time to time to better align with more complex scopes of work and project priorities. Metrolinx is no different.”
The provincial transit agency has been struggling for some time with several delayed light rail projects.
The Eglinton Crosstown LRT and the Finch West project, both in Toronto, have been plagued with legal challenges from their builders who allege the role of the TTC has made it harder for them to complete their construction work.
On both projects, Metrolinx has withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in final payments from the construction consortiums until it is satisfied the routes are finished.
Meanwhile, in Mississauga, the Hurontario LRT appears also to be facing construction and financing issues, with the warning it could have its credit rating downgraded.
None of the three lines — due to open originally in 2020, 2023 and 2024 — have concrete opening dates.
Opposition critics at Queen’s Park said the latest changes to Metrolinx show the Ford government’s transit agenda is stalling and mired in delays.
“Under Ford’s watch, Ontario’s transit planning has gone off the rails,” NDP Leader Marit Stiles said in a statement.
“The province’s transit planning agency no longer having a chief transit planner could mean even more delays for vital transit projects. While a shake-up at Metrolinx is long overdue, things can’t get much better while Ford’s million dollar man Phil Verster remains CEO.”
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said Metrolinx’s CEO had to be the one to go.
“The premier needs to call for the resignation of Phil Verster at Metrolinx and we need to fix what’s happening at Metrolinx right now,” he told Global News, in response to delays with the Hurontario LRT.
“It is completely unacceptable that the Ford government cannot deliver LRTs on time or on budget and they’re holding no one accountable for it.”
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