Hamilton was misled on LRT costs, which have been steadily creeping upward: Lysyk

A new auditor general report shows the cost of Hamilton light-trail transit (LRT) was creeping upward as far back as 2018, and that the provincial PC estimate of $5.5 billion when the project was cancelled in December actually wasn't far off.

Bonnie Lysyk saidMonday that the then-Liberal Treasury Board approved $1.083 billionback in March 2018 to build the system, far more than the$823 million in construction costs it approved in 2016.

"The ministry was aware as early as 2016 that the total cost estimate for the Hamilton LRT would be higher than the $1 billion in capital costs that the province had publicly committed to funding in 2015, but it did not make this fact public," Lysyk said in her report.

The increased costs"were not public numbers," Lysyk told reporters at Queen's Park.

"When the governmentmade the decision to cancel the HamiltonLRT, they had gotten new information based on what the costs were," she said.

"There was not a lot of understanding of the two prior estimates when that announcement was made."

The actual cost of Hamilton LRT which may still happen has been the source of confusion since last year.

Then-Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney announced the surprise cancellation a year ago, saying she'd told Mayor Fred Eisenberger a couple of months earlier that the costs had grown.

The $1 billion had only been to build the system. In her comments, Mulroney said the cost had ballooned to be five times as much, citing a $5.5 billion estimate she said came from a Turner and Townsend report. But that estimate also included 30 years of operations and maintenance costs.

The actual Turner and Townsend report, a copy of which CBC News obtained, showed the capital costs had increased to more like $2.32 billion, which includes escalation and contingency,and $818.8 million in operating, maintenance and life cycle costs still short of $5.5 billion.

But Lysyk's reportsaid the $5.5-billion estimate "was reasonable," and the city should already have been told about it.

"When these things happen, there needs to be clear and open discussions between levels of governmentso everyone knows who's going to pay for what and what it's going to cost," she said.

Mulroney told reporters that her government has beentransparent about Hamilton LRT.

Under the Liberals, the increased cost"was never disclosed to other partners, nor was it disclosed to other partners involved in the operations and maintenance of Hamilton LRT," she said.

The report found the Treasury Board approved $3.659 billion for Hamilton LRT in 2018. The province is committed to spending $1 billion on Hamilton transit. So doesn't that mean Hamilton is losing out on $2.659 billion?

Mulroney said Ontario Liberal leader Steven Del Duca should answer that question. "We have been true to our commitment of $1 billion."

Del Duca saysthe method for announcing Hamilton LRT was the same as for GO Regional Express Rail, Hurontario LRT and Finch LRT. But the province hasn't cancelled those.

"Doug Fordchose to proceed withthose other projects, andchoseto only single out the City ofHamiltonand deliver a reckless and devastating cut to their transit needs," hesaid in an email.

AndreaHorwath, Ontario NDP leader and Hamilton Centre MPP, asked Lysyk earlier this year to investigate Hamilton LRT.

Del Duca, she said,"lives in a glass house, and has no room to be throwing stones."

The Liberals should have approved Hamilton LRT long before they did, she said. If that happened, she said, "then we wouldn't be in this pickle."

She sees the province's $1-billion offer as a downgrade from $3.659 billion now. She alsowonders why other LRT projects with cost overruns weren't cancelled.

"It's pretty clear that governments have been playing games with Hamilton's LRTfor a couple of years now."

Eisenberger says he still wishes the province had waited until the procurement process was complete. The city was awaiting RFP results when Mulroney cancelled LRT.

The province also should have talked to the private sector, who had already "indicated their interest" in contributing to LRT, he said in a statement.

The fate of LRT

"Hamilton's LRT project is shovel ready and ready to go, ensuring economic benefits can be realized faster," he said."The project will create thousands of jobs, economic uplift, increase affordable housing, cut CO2 emissions and will replace aging underground services such as water and waste water which would otherwise be the responsibility of local property taxpayers."

The fate of Hamilton LRT should beclearer in the coming weeks.

After Mulroney cancelled it, she struck a task force to look at how $1 billion should be spent in Hamilton. That task force recommended rapid transit.

The provincial and federal governments are now in discussions with the private sector to try to make the project happen.

Metrolinx hasalready spent $162million on the project.