[URBAN NOTE] The latest news on the Union-Pearson Express, Metrolinx, and Kathy Haley

[rfmcdonald]

Last night, I read Oliver Moore's article in The Globe and Mail noting that the Metrolinx executive responsible for the Union-Pearson Express, hence assigned responsibilities for its problems, is no longer with the company.

The head of Toronto’s struggling airport train is being eased out of her role as part of a Metrolinx reorganization.

The Globe and Mail has learned that plans are taking shape to move the Union Pearson Express under the direct control of GO Transit.

As president of the UPX, Kathy Haley was tasked with rolling out the airport train as an explicitly “premium” service. But a recent decision by Metrolinx to slash fares, in a bid to attract riders, has the effect of turning the train into more of a commuter option. A coming reorganization that would fold it into GO is expected to further that shift.

It is unclear if this change would leave a role at Metrolinx for Ms. Haley. The regional transit agency said in a brief statement Wednesday that they are in the midst of an “organizational review,” adding that they couldn’t comment on plans “that have yet to be finalized.”

“I would say [Premier] Kathleen Wynne and [Transportation Minister] Steven Del Duca are absolutely looking for a fall person … over at Metrolinx to shift the blame on the disaster rollout of UPX, and they may have found somebody,” Progressive Conservative MPP and transportation critic Michael Harris said.

Steve Munro is skeptical of this assignation of blame.

While it may be convenient to target Haley as the culprit here, the real question is how the structure and corporate attitude that led to UPX’ creation arose in the first place. From the beginning, this has been a project for which the word pretentious is almost inadequate. Despite the abandonment of this scheme by its original private sector proponent – for the simple reason that it was judged financially unsound – Ontario forged on with this as a signature project, part of the Bid Book for the Pan Am Games. We would show the world what Ontario could do.

Haley may take the fall for this fiasco, but she worked for a board who lapped up the praise, who bought into the flawed vision of what UPX would become. That board, and the government who set all of this in motion to begin with, owe us all an explanation.