Premier Kathleen Wynne suggests the Ontario government will not stand in the way of any formal request to impose road tolls on two major highways leading into downtown Toronto.
Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown wants the Liberals to reject a proposal from Toronto Mayor John Tory to impose tolls on the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway.
Brown pointed out that Wynne opposed road tolls five years ago when she was transportation minister, and asked the premier directly during question period if she would stop the tolls on the two Toronto highways.
Wynne responded with an attack on how the Conservatives had disrespected municipalities when they were in government, and said the Liberals would not take “unilateral action against the city of Toronto.”
Brown said Tory’s plan to put tolls on the DVP and Gardiner would help pay for Wynne’s “mistakes” in overseeing road and transit projects, which the auditor general said cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
If Kathleen Wynne wasn’t building bridges upside down, repaving roads every two years when it should be 15 years, we wouldn’t be having this debate,” he said. “By allowing these tolls to go ahead, she’s asking 905 commuters and 416 drivers to pay for her mistakes.”
Tory’s office put out a release Tuesday accusing Brown of trying to “score cheap political points” by opposing road tolls as a revenue tool for the cash-strapped city.
“Maybe he should have championed a plan to fix people’s commutes into Toronto,” said his spokeswoman, Amanda Galbraith. “Now he needs to explain to Toronto residents why he’s happy to let them live in a city that can’t afford to fight traffic or build transit.”
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