The Toronto subway, which for many is the jewel in the crown of North America’s third-largest transit agency, began operations the year I was born in 1954 and changed forever not only how residents of our City got from point “A” to point “B”, but even where they lived and worked, where they shopped, and even how they socialized. A few months before the new subway was about to commence operations, we welcomed at the Empire Club the then legendary Chair of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, Frederick G. Gardiner, who delivered a speech in which this upcoming opening loomed largely. It was, for many Torontonians of the day, the indisputable proof that Toronto had come of age and had a future ahead of it which would make it one of the truly great cities of the world, which explains the following introduction that the Empire Club President of the day made to Mr. Gardiner’s speech:
“To assess the gigantic task ahead of him, I suggest for your consideration that Toronto in the foreseeable future is, or should be–outside of London England itself–the most considerable city in the whole of the Commonwealth of Nations! Accordingly, I also suggest to you that you view Toronto as a great Metropolitan center, not in the eyes of Canadians only, not in the eyes of the inhabitants of this continent only, but in the eyes of the entire civilized world. To fulfill our destiny as such, we must now have greater unity in our local civic affairs and I think you will agree, that today we have with us the man who will bring this about. “
In this November 5th, 1953 speech, Chairman Gardiner strongly emphasized the importance of the new subway that was about to open, and how it would be the cornerstone of the new TTC:
“With respect to public transportation, the Toronto Transportation Commission, which has been a separate authority for thirty years, will be expanded into the Toronto Transit Commission. The new T.T.C. will have a monopoly in respect of public transportation in the whole of the metropolitan area with the corresponding responsibility of providing public transportation throughout the whole of the area. The City of Toronto subway which is nearing completion and will cost approximately $60,000, 000 for the subway and rolling stock will become the main stem of the transit system which with surface lines, trolley coaches, and bus facilities will provide for the millions of passengers who require public transportation for long and short distances daily.”
Fast forward to April 2016 and we see what our guest speaker at the Empire Club this week has called the “least funded transit system in North America”, a situation that has led TTC CEO Andy Byford to become what some refer to as a squeaky wheel, a man who is not afraid to stand up and fight for what he believes in. He has always had transit in his blood, to be sure…he did, after all, start his career as a Station Foreman in the London Underground in 1989, and even his grandfather had been a bus driver for London Transit. While he grew up in the beautiful city of Plymouth and remains faithful to the Plymouth Argyle Football Club to this day, his career was to take him to the far reaches of the Commonwealth, including a stint as the Chief Operating Officer of Sydney, Australia’s Rail Corporation. When he joined the TTC as Chief Operating Officer in November 2011, he had already acquired all of the operational skill sets to face the challenges of our own municipality’s heavily underfunded transit system, and he has never lost his focus as he fights for what he truly believes are necessary infrastructure upgrades and investments to allow this great City of ours to live up to Frederick Gardiner’s vision of Toronto as one of the world’s great metropolitan centers. Now, at last, his call to action appears to have fallen on receptive ears, and as we heard last week when Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau addressed a joint meeting of the Empire Club of Canada and the Canadian Club of Toronto, funding for Toronto transit will finally be forthcoming. Not surprising then that Mr. Byford can now come to the Empire Club with a message of optimism and hope and outline to Torontonians what the TTC’s modernization plan will look like when it is completed in 2017. Keeping our City moving on time in a safe and efficient manner is now more than a pipe dream, and will help to ensure that Toronto continues to hold the position of one of the great and most livable cities in the world.
