Ottawa LRT report shows project 'stunk to high heaven,' says Ford
Premier speaks bluntly about scathing 664-page report into Confederation Line
Ottawa's light rail line project was "absolutely in shambles" and a searing report into its litany of failures has confirmed the value of the province's public inquiry, Ontario Premier Doug Ford says.
At a press conference in Toronto Thursday morning, Ford spoke bluntly with reporters about the 664-page report released Wednesday by the Ottawa Light Rail Transit Public Inquiry.
The province called the inquiry last November, after a derailment near Tremblay station — the second of two that summer — took the Confederation Line out of commission for nearly two months.
Ottawa city council had also just voted 13-10 against calling for a judicial inquiry, settling instead for an investigation by the city's auditor general.
In his remarks, Ford aimed his vitriol at city officials, including former mayor Jim Watson.
"I think they did a terrible job. Mayor Watson — I'm being very frank here — he wasn't transparent, he didn't oversee the project properly," the premier said.
"He's gone, and so is the city manager and some other people that worked on it. [They] high-tailed out of there because they knew it was a disaster. And the people of Ottawa knew it was a disaster. The people of Ottawa finally have an answer now."
'We wanted to dig deeper'
During three terms in office, Watson oversaw the line's approval, construction, delays and 2019 opening. He did not run for re-election in 2022.
In his report, Justice William Hourigan had harsh words for both Watson and former city manager Steve Kanellakos, who resigned Monday. He accused them of withholding information during the LRT's final testing phase, when officials lowered the criteria for the line to be given a passing grade but didn't tell the rest of city council.
That conduct raised "serious concerns about whether the City of Ottawa can properly complete significant infrastructure projects," Hourigan wrote. It also prevented councillors "from fulfilling their statutory duties to the people of Ottawa."
Watson is currently on a "long-planned personal holiday" and will read the report when he returns, a former staffer told CBC.
While the report and its 103 recommendations also targeted Rideau Transit Group, the consortium that built the $2.1-billion Confederation Line, Ford did not mention them by name in his remarks.
"[Ottawa LRT] was just absolutely in shambles and stunk to high heaven, and we wanted to dig deeper. And we did," Ford said.
Infrastructure minister pressed at Queen's Park
One of Hourigan's recommendations was that all levels of government look hard at the appropriateness of using a public-private partnership contract for a major transit project.
Ottawa NDP MPPs Joel Harden and Chandra Pasma released a joint statement Wednesday criticizing that model, known as a P3. Then during Thursday's Question Period at Queen's Park, Pasma demanded to know whether the Ford government would stop signing the "risky" contracts.
Pasma's colleague, Toronto MPP Bhutila Karpoche, also pressed the province on the model — specifically as it was being used for a 25-kilometre LRT line in Toronto that's already missed several deadlines.
But Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma defended the use of P3s in the right circumstances, saying they'd allowed the government to build hospitals and transit lines and widen highways across Ontario.
"Our P3 history in the province of Ontario is a wonderful one," Surma said. "We were elected on a strong mandate to build this province, and that is what we'll do."
Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney is planning to review the LRT report in the coming days. While she hasn't commented specifically on P3s, she has said taxpayers "deserve accountability for their money."
Feds also poring over report
Before Ford's Progressive Conservatives took power in Ontario in 2018, the previous Liberal government had committed $600 million to build the first stage of the Confederation Line. Another $600 million came from the former Conservative federal government.
Speaking to reporters Thursday in London, Ont., Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the current government was also looking "very closely" at the inquiry's final report.
"We know how important it is for the federal government to be a partner to municipalities and to provinces on investing and infrastructure," Trudeau said.
"And we're always going to make sure that the investments the federal government sends to municipalities and provinces deliver those results for Canadians."
Both Trudeau's Liberals and Ford's PCs have contributed more than a billion dollars each to fund the Stage 2 expansion of Ottawa's rail network.
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