Show us the detailed numbers that led to the death of Hamilton LRT, city says

The province won't release a report that prompted it to cancel Hamilton's long-awaited light-rail transit (LRT) project, but the mayor says he'll fight for its release.

Numbers released by the province Monday show Hamilton's LRT would cost $1.8 billion more to build than estimated, and a combined $5.6 billion over 30 years. But they don't include why Hamilton's project appears to be the only LRT project in the works with drastically inflated costs, how the province arrived at that number, or who did the calculations. 

Fred Eisenberger wants to know all of that, and has written the province saying so. He believes the numbers are inflated, but he has only has a "high-level" six-page report.

Even for that, he said, the province asked him to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

"There's got to be more," he said. "I'd like to think a higher level of detail has been provided … If this is all they've got, shame on them."

A spokesperson for Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney said the full report includes "proprietary and commercially confidential information." Instead, the government released a one-page summary "without jeopardizing the commercial sensitivity of other transit projects."

Mulroney told CBC Monday that she has confidence in the third party numbers.

But Andrea Horwath, Hamilton Centre MPP and Ontario NDP leader, wants to know more too. Hamilton's LRT is 14 kilometres, she said. Others, like the 18-kilometre Hurontario LRT ($1.4 billion), and Finch West LRT ($1.2 billion), cost less.

"It is unbelievable to me that our LRT is 130 per cent more expensive for some reason," she said.

CBC obtained a copy of the six-page report distributed to council Tuesday. Like the one-page summary, it includes costs not considered in the $1 billion estimate cited by the previous government.

The initial $1 billion Metrolinx estimate only included the capital cost of building LRT. The $5.6 billion estimate includes provincial operating costs over 30 years ($983,926,505) and municipal operating costs over that time ($950,299,025).

The estimate given to council includes specific costs, like $59 million for at-grade embedded tracks and $23 million for an LRT bridge over Highway 403. It doesn't contain cost comparators, so there's no indication where costs have increased.

Eisenberger said the city and province have always known it would cost money to operate the system. That's why the RFP for the project, which was due in early 2020, was for a third-party consortium to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the system.

"They're pretending ($1 billion) was only number that was out there," he said.

Mulroney said Hamilton LRT is more expensive because it's part of the "latest generation" of LRT projects, and is in the procurement phase right now.

There's no need to wait for the RFP to finish, she said, because the province already knows the numbers will be "five times greater" than expected. And she doesn't want to download $950 million in operating and maintenance costs to the city of Hamilton over 30 years.

Hamilton will still get $1 billion in provincial transportation investment, she said. Its use will be determined by a task force with a membership to be announced. Options include bus rapid transit (BRT), more buses or another project.

So far, $162 million has been spent on LRT so far, and Metrolinx has purchased about 65 Hamilton properties for it. The system was due to start in 2024.

Coun. Maureen Wilson of Ward 1 has also asked Mulroney for the full report. In an email Tuesday, she offered to come to her office to get it. And Coun. Nrinder Nann of Ward 3 is calling for an emergency council meeting to figure out how to keep fighting for LRT. She tweeted Monday that the province had created "fake numbers."

Lloyd Ferguson, a Ward 12 (Ancaster) councillor and construction industry veteran, wants to see the full report too, although he doesn't think what's in it ultimately matters.

"If your argument is to find a reason to kill the project, you can make these numbers work the way you want," he said.

"We'll never know now. Their decision is done. They're not going to move on it. They wouldn't go public about this until they were absolutely firm about this."

Some city councillors have been against the project. That includes Coun. Brad Clark of Ward 9, who said he's always worried about operating costs.

The Monday decision made sense, he said. The operating costs were "not sustainable."

Clark said he'd like to see another transit option, such as BRT to electric buses. It's not Hamilton's decision though.

"Let's be really candid," he said. "It was the province's money from the get go."

Coun. Sam Merulla of Ward 4 supports LRT, but the announcement didn't surprise him.

"I was shocked this decision didn't occur a year ago," he said, instead of "baiting a community for a year."

"Why it unfolded the way it has unfolded is really a mystery to me."