rfmcdonald | [URBAN NOTE] "Crombie questions Mississauga's ability to pay for LRT airport extension" (Reply)

CBC News' Laura Howells reports on an epic absence of communication between Toronto and Mississauga municipal governments, as well as a worrisome incapacity on the part of the latter.

With Toronto set to vote this week on funding for Mayor John Tory's SmartTrack transit plan, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie said her city can't afford to kick in some $470 million to expand the Eglinton-Crosstown lightrail line into Misssissauga and Pearson Airport.

"If we were asked to contribute such and amount – half a billion dollars – it wouldn't allow us to build any of our own priorities for well into a couple of decades," Crombie said Monday on Metro Morning.

A report from Toronto's city manager surfaced last week that suggests Mississauga and the Greater Toronto Airport Authority pay 19 per cent of the cost of expanding the Eglinton line into Mississauga.

A problem for Crombie is that no one from the City of Toronto had talked to them about this payment idea before publicly releasing the report.

Crombie said she supports transit, but points out that her city isn't equipped to raise the money to cover such a project.