Metrolinx focuses new division on beleaguered LRT projects but critics demand more changes

Premier Doug Ford is facing increasing calls for accountability at provincial transit planning agency Metrolinx after a major shakeup of the executive ranks over the failure to launch several rapid transit projects in the GTA.

In a company-wide email on Tuesday, Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster said the agency needed to “evolve and adapt” as it deals with an “expanded mandate” that includes building new transit lines while continuing to operate the existing system.

In the memo, obtained by Global News, Verster told employees Metrolinx needs to be “effective and efficient” and in order to achieve that the transit agency needed to be reorganized.

“To do this, we must ensure that the right combinations of people, competencies, processes, and structures are in place,” Verster said in the memo.

The memo, which announced a complete redesign and dissolution of the agency’s planning department and the departure of two key senior staff, changed how Metrolinx is run to put its beleaguered LRT projects front and centre.

Ontario’s light rail projects have come under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks after revelations about both the Finch West and Hurontario LRT, which join the years-delayed Eglinton Crosstown LRT as struggling projects without opening dates.

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The Eglinton Crosstown LRT has faced repeated legal battles since the onset of the pandemic, while a lawsuit was also launched by the builders of the Finch West LRT in the summer over the role of the TTC. A credit rating report this month raised serious questions about the status of the Hurontario LRT in Mississauga.

Part of the Metrolinx staffing overhaul announced Tuesday appears explicitly focused on Finch West and the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, Toronto’s two light rail projects.

The changes split the operations department for rapid transit into two divisions, with one assigned the task specifically of getting the Eglinton and Finch light rail lines over the line.

“I have asked Phil Taberner to lead the remaining parts of the Operations (Rapid Transit) division, in an acting capacity and beginning on October 21, and to focus on getting the Eglinton and Finch West LRTs into service,” Verster wrote.

In a statement sent to Global News Tuesday, Metrolinx said its “mandate” and “the complexity of our work” were changing, citing that as a reason for the internal redesign.

“This requires that the right combinations of people, competencies, processes, and structures are in place,” the statement said. “It’s not unusual for organizations to make strategic changes to its management structure from time to time to better align with more complex scopes of work and project priorities. Metrolinx is no different.”

The planning department, responsible for design, business cases and integration, among other things, has been dissolved and the majority of its staff absorbed into other divisions of the agency.

The changes, however, aren’t enough for the Ford government’s political opponents, who are calling for the resignation of the Metrolinx CEO himself.

Both the NDP and the Greens have also called for Verster to resign.

“The premier needs to call for the resignation of Phil Verster at Metrolinx and we need to fix what’s happening at Metrolinx right now,” Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said Tuesday.

The embattled Metrolinx CEO found an unlikely ally in Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie on Wednesday, who said the buck stopped with politicians and not Verster.

“Doug Ford can’t be trusted right now — what has he delivered on the Crosstown? What about all the other projects?” she said.

“This is the man that is responsible for the gridlock in our economy today, not Phil Verster.… Ultimately, the responsibility is on the minister of transportation and the premier of Ontario, who should be held responsible for the lack of delivery on all these programs.”

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