OTTAWA — Ontario’s progressive conservatives are promising new ways for commuters to get around the GTA if re-elected.
On Thursday, Brampton South PC candidate Prabmeet Sarkaria, who serves as Transport Minister under the Doug Ford government, announced a drastic expansion of the GO Train network, which they’ve dubbed “GO 2.0”
“With the threat of President Trump’s tariffs continuing to hurt investment and create uncertainty in our province, projects like these that will keep people working and support our economy are more important than ever,” Sarkaria said, describing the initiative as a “transformative project” that will help ease Toronto’s gridlock.
“Only our Ontario PC team has the vision and drive to get this project done, creating new jobs and opportunities for Ontario workers and delivering the high-quality regional transit that the GGH (Greater Golden Horseshoe) needs.”
As most GO Train lines in the GTA share rails with freight trains, the PCs are planning a “freight rail bypass” along the Hwy. 407 corridor, ostensibly meant to replace the CN Halton and York Subdivisions — the two busy freight corridors that run along the city’s north feeding the railway’s enormous MacMillan classification yard in Vaughan.
Maps provided with the PCs press release suggest the Halton and York subdivisions would instead become part of GO 2.0’s “Midtown Line.”
The proposal also calls for a creation of a line serving Bolton, using portions of the CPKC (Canadian Pacific Kansas City railway) Mactier Subdivision.
FAMILY DOC WITHIN FOUR YEARS, CROMBIE PROMISES
During a campaign stop in Scarborough, Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie outlined a plan to improve access to family health care across the province.
“You’ll get a family doctor within four years, that’s our commitment — care, where and when you need it,” she said during her speech Thursday morning. “That’s how we’re going to change Ontario.”
Crombie’s four-point plan, entitled “A Family Doctor for You,” aims to educate, attract and train thousands of new family doctors, improve and expand access across the province within four years, modernize family medicine by doing away with fax machines and make appointments available on evenings and weekends, and ensure nobody has to choose between a family doctor and walk-in clinics.
Over 2.5 million Ontarians don’t have access to a family doctor, the Liberals say — a number that’s expected to rise to four million.
NDP VOWS TO HELP RENTERS
Amid Ontario’s ongoing housing and cost-of-living crisis, the Marit Stiles NDP are promising reforms for the province’s renters.
“After seven years of Doug Ford, rent is higher than ever,” read a press release from the Ontario NDP.
“Ontario’s New Democrats will protect renters in this housing crisis. We’ll bring in real rent control, we’ll crack down on bad actors, and we’ll build more homes that people can afford.”
The party unveiled five promises on Thursday, including closing loopholes that exempts rent control from units built after 2018, cracking down on renovictions, allowing fourplexes and four-storey apartment complexes in neighbourhoods, limiting short-term rentals, and building or acquiring 300,000 affordable non-profit or co-op housing units.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles arrived in Sault Ste. Marie Thursday evening for an overnight campaign stop.
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