‘I Am Not Waiting’: Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow Wants To Fast Track Scarborough Transit Line

After officially announcing plans to build the Waterfront East LRT at the end of March in collaboration with the provincial and federal governments, Toronto mayor Olivia Chow says she’s now turning her attention to another long awaited transit project – the Scarborough East Rapid Transit line (SERT).

Chow is set to present a motion to the City’s Executive Committee on Wednesday to “fight” for SERT. She’s recommending that the City of Toronto officially make SERT its top priority in terms of transit expansion and request a funding commitment of one-third of the costs from each, the provincial and federal governments.

She also suggests investing an additional $10 million of the City Building Fund Reserve, drawing from funds which are specifically allocated to invest in Scarborough transit, to speed up design work on SERT. The work has been ongoing alongside design work for the Waterfront East LRT since 2023, with $18 million already invested. This additional investment, she says, will help reach 30 per cent completion of the design.

“As Mayor, I am not waiting. The City of Toronto is ready with our share of the funding and moving forward designing the line, while we work on landing a funding deal,” she said in a statement.

The motion also suggests asking the Province for support with planning and design, drawing on their experience with transit projects they’ve built, and engaging with the federal government to provide input on the City’s SERT plan to determine what version of the project they would fund.

“I’m doing this now because we have momentum. Last month I secured $2 billion from the provincial and federal governments to build the Waterfront East LRT matching the City’s one-third share,” she said at a press conference on Wednesday.

“Right now the other governments are listening. Now is the time to turn up the volume and make a deal for the Scarborough line.”

Chow says this work should be supported by establishing a Scarborough Transit Working Group (STWG) that will have members from all levels of government and representations from multiple relevant agencies, including the TTC and Metrolinx.

A second group called the Program Advisory Board (PAB) would represent the people of Scarborough and advocate for funding from all levels of government. This group would be chaired by the Deputy Mayor for Scarborough as well as a non-elected member of the Scarborough community. It will include members of the Scarborough Community Council and community leaders.

The motion will also ask for an analysis of the national economic impact of building SERT including job creation, the impact on the growth and development of Scarborough and the projected economic loss for residents and businesses if the line is not built.

“There’s really no time to waste. Scarborough residents have not had adequate transit for a long, long time,” she said, adding that it’s high time the now decommissioned Scarborough RT is replaced with reliable transit because, “Scarborough cannot be left out.”