November 26, 2004

The Canadian Urban Institute Urban Leadership Series
by David Caplan, Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal

It is always a pleasure to attend Canadian Urban Institute events. This organization is dedicated to improving the quality of urban life, an objective that is certainly one of our government’s key priorities. 

And it is clear that improving the quality of urban life means improving our transit and transportation systems. Later this morning you will hear distinguished experts discuss some of the things we can do to boost transit use within the city and ways to link communities across municipal boundaries.

My purpose this morning is to talk about the issue in a wider context. I want to discuss what the government is doing to change the urban environment in the Greater Golden Horseshoe region. And, the impact that change will have on addressing commuter pressures across the GTA.

Let me begin with what we know.

We know that within the next 30 years, the Greater Golden Horseshoe will be home to almost four million additional people.

We know that what we call gridlock now could easily become something much worse in the future.

We know the decisions people make about using the car or taking public transit depend on where they live and where they work.  Half of all households in downtown Toronto do not own a car. In the suburbs, there is commonly one car for every adult in the household. High density in the city makes transit efficient and a car less attractive.  Low density in the suburbs makes public transit uneconomical and inconvenient.

We know that if we do nothing, what has been allowed to grow into a thorny problem will bloom into a genuine crisis.

We know we are rushing toward that crisis. Think of this. From 1964 to 2001, the population in the GTA doubled while the number of trips taken more than tripled. Roads like the 401 are at peak capacity for 13 hours each and every day.

Fast forward to 2031. Those who have examined these issues tell us the result of maintaining the status quo approach to planning for growth would mean that in thirty years:

• Congestion could make travel times increase by more than 44 per cent and travel speeds could decrease dramatically.
• Greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles could increase by 42 per cent.
• Sprawl could gobble up land almost twice the 630 square kilometre area of Toronto.

Reduced activity levels – we’re spending valuable recreational time sitting on highways – coupled with increased anxiety levels, are directly connected to higher risk for obesity, diabetes, and heart problems to name a few.

If we think we’re stressed today, think of how we’ll feel thirty years from now if these trends continue.

We can’t let this happen. We have an obligation to do something, and do it now.

Let me tell you about some of things the government is doing.

Poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson said it succinctly: “The future belongs to those who prepare for it.” 

Frankly, the former government didn’t prepare for our future. They didn’t have a plan to deal with this growth.

One of the McGuinty government’s starting points for preparing for our future was the release, during the summer, of the discussion paper Places to Grow. Brighter Choices. Better Future.

This paper, as most of you here will remember, lays out strategies for growth planning in the Greater Golden Horseshoe.  We consulted with many stakeholders and the public. We met with municipalities, business and organizations like yours  and hundreds of people attended public meetings and/or sent us written submissions.

Just last month, I introduced the Places to Grow Act, Bill 136. This legislation, if passed, would enable the government to proceed with a growth plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, growth plans for other regions across the province. The act would allow the government to designate specific geographic areas as growth plan areas for the benefit of developing a growth plan for that area.

Not all parts of the province, of course, face gridlock and sprawl. In other parts, communities are suffering because growth isn’t happening. They need jobs, investment and opportunity.

In developing a draft growth plan for the GGH, we would be looking at the total picture. We would be coordinating growth and capital planning. We would plan for population growth, economic expansion, in a way that would ensure the protection of the environment and our valuable agricultural lands.

And, of course we will make sure we have the infrastructure in place to support the growth.  Investing in infrastructure is about investing in our future.

But we know that just investing more in public infrastructure is not enough. We must invest in the right place and in the right way.

That’s why we are developing a long-term capital infrastructure plan that will guide the government’s future investment decisions and identify long-term priorities with an emphasis on health, water, education and transportatio.

And speaking of transportation

Let me be clear, this is not a choice between subways and superhighways.  It is not a conflict between better public transit and better public highways.

However, we do need to think about ways to make transit a more viable choice throughout the region. We need to ensure we have transit-supportive densities on our major corridors.

We must make sure that those transit supportive communities have high quality, frequent, comfortable transit service that offers a real alternative to the automobile.

We can’t afford to pay for a transportation infrastructure using the traditional, car-based growth model.  Simply put, we’ll run out of room, and money.  And the environmental cost is too high.

That’s why transit must be central to any new growth model.  And our Places to Grow discussion paper addresses the issue in some detail. 

We envision sustainable communities linked through an integrated transportation network in the Greater Golden Horseshoe – one that connects people living and working within the region and links the region to vital markets in the Ontario, Canada and the U.S.  And again, let me be clear:  these two priorities are not in conflict.  

Highways will be built where necessary.  But along with my colleagues, Harinder Takhar, the Minister of Transportation and John Gerretsen, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, we are taking the lead in promoting transit.  When it comes to moving people around the urbanized parts of the region – and improving connectivity with GO Transit for the longer trips – we’ve set the following goals:

• To grow transit ridership in the urban areas
• To manage congestion, and
• To reduce commuting times.

This government has already made significant investments in transit – in particular to the Toronto Transit Commission and GO Transit – but even more is required throughout the region if we are to achieve our objectives.  The idea is to enable people to make better transportation choices and have the option to leave the car at home when they need to get to work, school or to leisure activities. 

Our vision for growth links transportation investments to growth policies and plans that are implemented at both the provincial and municipal levels.  Compact form, mixed use and higher densities will be supported by complementary investments in transit systems serving these communities.

Building more effective transit systems is much more than just building infrastructure.  It means coordinating and integrating transit services across municipal boundaries. 

• It’s about an integrated ticketing system that enables riders to move easily and conveniently across municipal transit systems without the need to carry pockets full of change.
• It means a comfortable, dependable and affordable system that’s responsive to riders’ needs.

In our first year, this government has already started improving transit.  For example:

• Last month, Premier McGuinty along with Minister Takhar announced our commitment to invest two cents a litre of the provincial gas tax in public transit.  Over the next three years, we will invest more than $680 million in new money for 78 transit systems that will benefit 105 Ontario municipalities.  More than half of this – $367 million – is aimed at the GTA.
• In 2004-05, this government is committing $257.5 million for GO Transit.  This funds GO’s operations and capital rehabilitation budget and one-third of its growth capital budget.  With federal contributions matching Ontario’s, and significant contributions sought from municipalities, the total investment to expand the GO system could well reach more than $1 billion, over ten years.
• In Toronto itself, in March, the three levels of government collectively committed more than $1 billion over five years to improve, modernize and expand the TTC system to improve service to its 1.3 million daily riders. 
• Minister Takhar also announced, the first High Occupancy Vehicle – HOV – lanes will open in the fall of 2005 on Highways 403 and 404, pending the introduction of legislation.  HOV lanes encourage people to use public transit and to carpool, easing congestion and increasing capacity for these busy highways.
• We worked with municipal transit and implemented legislation in January, 2004, requiring cars to yield to buses as they merge into traffic.  The idea is to make transit service more reliable – especially at rush hours – and improve service to commuters.
• Through the Ontario Transit Vehicle Program we now provide funding to support both the renewal and expansion of municipal transit fleets.

All of these initiatives are part of our vision for long-term growth.  If we use our urban land more efficiently and invest in our urban centres that are at viable transit-supportive densities, we will maximize the efficiency of existing transit infrastructure, rather than spending ever-increasing tax dollars to service an ever-expanding sprawl. 

The ribbon of steel that plays such a key role in the Greater Golden Horseshoe is GO Transit, because each 10-car train can replace some 1,400 cars.  While growth has been constrained due to lack of rail line capacity, our vision is to build GO capacity by:

• Adding new tracks along sections of the Lakeshore corridor from Hamilton to Oshawa to accommodate additional trains
• Making improvements to the Georgetown and Milton lines to allow for more service to be added, and for new stations in the Bradford and Stouffville corridors
• Providing $67 million in start-up funding to help GO Transit initiate the first stage of a bus/rapid transit, or BRT system, across the GTA
• Building rail-rail grade separations on the Stouffville and Bradford Corridors will be completed to allow for more GO peak and off-peak services to York Region
• Adding rolling stock and maintenance/storage facilities to accommodate this growth.

The goal for GO:  build ridership by a minimum three per cent each and every year.

I think you will agree, this government has already begun to strengthen its strong commitment to relieving the plight of commuters through creative and innovative growth planning proposals and by transit-improvement deeds that speak louder than words. 

For too long, the growth policies and plans of previous governments in Ontario have literally paved the way to urban sprawl. 

We are not prepared to stand by and let that happen any longer.

Some of the priorities we have for the Greater Golden Horseshoe include:

• Encouraging more efficient land use in existing designated urban areas. This includes encouraging growth in designated priority or emerging urban centres – communities that are better equipped to accommodate a higher degree of new population and employment growth, and
• Identifying an interregional transportation network that can provide multi-modal links across the greater Golden Horseshoe and -- critically—link this area to important trading partners in the south and west. 
• Directing growth to the places best able to accommodate it. 

American humorist and writer Mark Twain once observed: “Buy land; they’re not making it any more.”  Beneath that tongue-in-cheek observation lies an immutable truth: as we grow our communities, we must use this precious and finite resource wisely.

That’s why the proposed Places to Grow Act dovetails with the proposed Greenbelt Act, the legislation introduced in October by my colleague, Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister John Gerretsen.  While the Places to Grow Act would deal with how, when and where development would take place; the Greenbelt Act and the plan that goes with it would protect 1.8 million acres of land – identifying where growth should not occur.

In summary, ladies and gentlemen, we have a challenge but we also have a solution. And it is a solution with many benefits.

If we plan for population and economic growth in a balanced and rational way, we will build strong communities with diverse and enriched neighbourhoods. Neighbourhoods and broader communities where people have access to jobs, hospitals, schools, recreational facilities and transportation options to get them there.

Communities with safe water, clean air, plenty of parks and trails and a healthy agricultural sector.

We believe growth planning will help our economy remain vibrant with jobs and competitive businesses that attract investment and lead on a global scale.

Planning now for population and economic growth – and ensuring the infrastructure is in place to support that growth – is essential. Essential for those of us who live here now and, for those who follow. 

With your help, we will meet the challenge and realize the opportunity. 

Thank you.