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Ford asks Premier for transit help
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The Toronto Star- Mayor Rob Ford asked Premier Dalton McGuinty for help building the Sheppard subway expansion at their meeting this morning, Ford said.
He did not provide details about his request, saying he would speak again after the Ripley's Aquarium announcement he had to leave Queen's Park to attend.
The province previously committed $8.2 billion for an Eglinton Ave. line as part of the deal which killed the Transit City plan. That plan would have seen light rail on Finch Ave.
Ford and his brother, Councillor Doug Ford, have repeatedly promised that the Sheppard expansion will be completed even though transit experts and their council foes have called the plan unfeasible.
The Sheppard line was originally estimated at $4.2 billion until Gordon Chong, the leader of the entity tasked with coming up with the business case for the line, later revised the estimate to $4.7 billion.
Ford said he asked McGuinty, and will later ask Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak and NDP leader Andrea Horwath, “what are they gonna do for Toronto.”
“More specifically: the Sheppard subway. As you know, I campaigned on it. And we had a very, very good, positive conversation,” Ford said.
Ford said he also talked to McGuinty about provincial support for child care. KPMG suggested as part of the city's core service review that the city eliminate subsidies for the 2,000 spaces for which the province does not share the cost.
Ford said he also asked for permission to sell the Toronto Community Housing Corporation's 928 single-family homes. He also said he raised the subject of Exhibition Place and Ontario Place.
And he said he talked to McGuinty about public health nurses. In June, Ford drew criticism from McGuinty's health minister after he rejected two nurses the province had offered to pay for, saying he was worried the city would eventually have to pick up the tab; the province has offered three more. Ford has not offered an opinion on the second offer.
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