Ontario election results bode well for LRT

North American rail suppliers and industry observers (and advocates) paid close attention to election results Monday, Oct. 27, 2014, in Toronto, where city voters elected John Tory to succeed Mayor Rob Ford, the latter a severe critic of city passenger rail expansion plans. But results in other Ontario urban areas also bode well for urban rail transit, particularly light rail transit (LRT).

The province’s Waterloo Region, including the municipalities of Waterloo, Kitchener, and Cambridge, underwent a heated campaign where the ION LRT system, under construction since last August, was the pivotal political issue.

Ken Seiling, a pro-LRT candidate, was re-elected as Regional Municipality of Waterloo chairman, while Dave Jaworsky, another pro-LRT candidate, was elected mayor of Waterloo.

Cambridge, currently set to receive Bus Rapid Transit but eventually slated to be served by LRT, saw two regional council candidates opposed to rail defeated. Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig, who has protested his city’s paying for LRT before it is served by same, was re-elected.

Elsewhere in Ontario, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson was re-elected after running on a platform that included securing provincial and federal funding for phase 2 of Ottawa’s LRT plan. Watson had asserted that extensions of the 7.5-mile OC Transpo Confederation Line was a key election issue.