A recent media report confirmed that Doug Ford is turning his back on the development of a community hub for the Jane and Finch neighbourhood. It is unconscionable to me that he would deny the families in the area with a significant community benefit.
This is just the latest in a growing list of blows Doug Ford has struck at vulnerable and racialized communities including cuts to the Anti-Racism Directorate, the Black Youth Action Plan and after school programs that were focussed on providing tutoring services to students from the Jane and Finch area.
When I had the honour of serving as Minister of Transportation, I was delighted to obtain the approval to proceed with the Finch West LRT.
This significant transit project was designed to connect Humber College to the Spadina subway line, and to provide a significant economic boost to a part of Toronto that has faced daunting challenges for too many years.
For years, the plan for the LRT included provisions to support the building of a much-needed community hub in the Jane and Finch neighbourhood.
Yesterday we learned that Doug Ford has turned his back on this plan.
But it’s not too late to do the right thing.
I call on him to reverse this decision and to honour the original plan which would simultaneously provide transit connectivity and tangible quality of life improvements to one of Toronto’s priority neighbourhoods.