SmartTrack 'will prevail,' John Tory says on election anniversary

Toronto Mayor John Tory reaffirmed his commitment to the SmartTrack transit plan on Tuesday, saying in an interview on Metro Morningthe plan"will prevail."

"I am telling you that this transit line is going to get done," Tory told host Matt Galloway."It will provide the biggest benefit to the greatest number of people in the shortest time and that's why I'm behind it," he said.

Tory made the statement on the one-year anniversary of his election as mayor of Canada's largest city.

SmartTrack,a centrepiece of Tory's election campaign, calls for the construction of 53 kilometres of surface-rail transitmainly along existing GO Transit lines from Mississauga in west, down to Union Station and up to Markham.

Tory projected the plan would cost about $8 billion,take about seven years to build and bring relief to Line 1 (Yonge-University-Spadinaline), which is operating at capacity.

Tory saidSmartTrackis currently being studied, something he said will allow it to move from a concept to a plan that will help exasperated Torontocommuters.

"It is being studied exactly the way we said it had to be," said Tory."The idea will prevail. It may take a different shape, it may have a different cost. That's why we're bothering to do the studies."

Tory also spoke about his recent visitto London, England. He said Toronto could learn from what he said was that city's can-do attitude when it comes to big projects.

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"We spend too much time hand-wringing and studying and re-deciding and re-debating," said Tory."It's something that's become part of the culture and we have to change that."

He said decision making is too slow "on the big stuff" in Toronto, such as transit.

"People [in Toronto] go into these discussions with the attitude that says 'Let's talk about all the reasons why we can't do this' as opposed to 'Let's talk about the way that we're going to get this done because we have to.'"

Tory said one of the greatest challenges he's faced as mayoris dealing with the slower pace of decision making at City Hall, as opposed to the corporate board rooms where he worked prior to his election.

"[Councillor] Norm Kelly told me that the biggest challenge you will have is working with the second floor," said Tory, referring to council chambers. "The surprise is the amount of time you have to invest in it. I'm not complainingabout it, it's a reality that I've adjusted to."

Tory cited the recent decision to opt for ahybrid option to replace the eastern portionof the agingGardinerExpressway as an example of successful decision making under his watch.

Tory said he went to opponents of the hybrid plan and worked to bring them onside. "I said 'I want you to go to the people opposed to this, bothcouncillorsand citizens, andtalk to them about how we can make the hybrid better.'

"I'm really proud of the outcome of that," he said.