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Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe says the city has reached “the next big milestone” in getting Metrolinx to take over Ottawa’s LRT, though it doesn’t come with any timeline for when that will actually happen.
He signed an agreement with Ontario Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria on Tuesday and called it a “giant step forward” in a deal that he said could one day save the city $85 million per year.
The agreement reaffirms what Premier Doug Ford already committed to last year.
Sutcliffe said it lays out “the governance of the process” and a “framework” for the due diligence the province has to do before its agency Metrolinx actually takes control of the O-Train, including its troubled, seven-year-old Line 1.
“Nothing’s done until it’s done,” Sutcliffe said at a news conference after the signing.
“When you have a commitment like this, you go through the work … I think you’ve seen over and over again the premier has reiterated his commitment to get this done.”
He said the two sides will now have to do “the hard work to bring it across the finish line.” He called the process long and complicated and said the city’s multibillion dollar, long-term contract with Rideau Transit Maintenance is “part of the complexity.”
Mayor Mark Sutcliffe at a news conference announcing the agreement on Tuesday. (Francis Ferland/CBC)
Ford committed to upload the LRT to Metrolinx, which currently runs transit systems in the Toronto and Hamilton areas, during the last provincial election campaign. He said it would free up significant funds for the city.
Sutcliffe noted that OC Transpo is running a budget deficit — last year it reached $52 million — and said the savings from the upload could be reinvested in the transit system to help close the gap.
The mayor said his agreement with Sarkaria also lays out the final steps for a provincial upload of Highway 174 connecting central and east Ottawa, a promise that was part of the “new deal” he and Ford signed in the spring of 2024.
That upload has also been going through due diligence, but Sutcliffe said it is more advanced. Even so, he did not give a timeline on that file either.
“I think we’re a lot closer to the finish line with the 174 than we are with LRT,” Sutcliffe said.
The agreement specifically commits the two sides to “[complete] the due diligence to support the Ottawa Road 174 three-stage phased ownership and a structured and thorough evaluation of the [LRT] with a view to long-term provincial stewardship leading to a provincial upload.”
That staged plan for the 174, as laid out in the 2024 deal, involves first looking at the highway’s operations, then a detailed examination of the highway’s condition and legal frameworks, then a consideration of the various options.