QUEEN’S PARK – Ontario NDP Transit Critic Jessica Bell (University-Rosedale) released the following statement in response to news that Crosslinx Transit Solutions is suing Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario for $134 million related to the Eglinton Crosstown delays:
“The lawsuit Crosslinx is filing against Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario is further evidence that the Liberal and Conservative governments’ use of the P3 form of privatization to build transit is costly and ineffective.
The Eglinton Crosstown project has been plagued by delays and cost overruns for years – well before the pandemic. The former Liberal government shelled out a premium, using the flimsy excuse that the private consortium would be on the hook for risks, like cost overruns and construction delays. The Ontario government then secretly paid the consortium an additional $237 million to agree to a new delayed completion date, the largest settlement to a P3 in Ontario’s history. Now the province could be on the hook for millions more.
This court battle is proof the Ford government should ditch the P3 procurement model and build new transit using the tried-and-tested public delivery model. Ontarians deserve better than to pay, and pay and pay again for transit that’s delayed and delayed and delayed again.”