Kitchener MP calls for Ontario to 'show your homework' when it comes to 2-way, all-day GO trains
CBC
Kitchener Centre MP Mike Morrice says it's time for the province to provide clear timelines for two-way, all-day GO trains between Waterloo region and Toronto.
Communities in Waterloo region worked together to pitch two-way, all-day GO to the province in December 2013. Then Liberal transportation minister Glen Murray said the business case "makes a lot of sense." In March 2014, then premier Kathleen Wynne said the province was committed to two-way, all-day GO train service between the region and Toronto.
Nearly 10 years later, the province and Metrolinx, the agency that oversees GO Transit, say they're unable to provide a specific timeline for the project. Morrice says that the community deserves answers.
"We don't have any clarity on the extent of the progress. This is not acceptable," Morrice told CBC News.
He's written a letter to federal Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities Dominic LeBlanc asking him to "ensure that there is robust accountability" by the province and Metrolinx.
Morrice says the federal government has committed 40 per cent of the cost of the project to bring two-way, all-day GO trains to the region.
He says he's "calling on the federal government to put pressure on the province … to say show your homework, demonstrate that you're spending the funds," Morrice said.
Morrice's calls for more clarity on two-way, all-day GO trains comes at a time when Waterloo MPP Catherine Fife has a petition on her website asking for the same thing.
"For residents in Waterloo region, the sense of frustration has reached a tipping point," Fife told CBC News in an interview.
CBC News reached out to Metrolinx, Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney's office and CN to ask about two-way, all-day GO trains.
All three said talks are underway to increase the frequency of GO trains along the Kitchener line, but no timelines were given for the projects.
CN owns part of the track used by the Kitchener Go trains and the province and Metrolinx say they need to work out a deal with CN to be able to use the tracks.
"Further information on timelines will depend on CN negotiations concluding and contracts for the work being procured," a Metrolinx spokesperson said in an email.
CBC News reached out to Minister LeBlanc's office for comment on Morrice's letter but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
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