Introduction

• Author: C. Ian Kyer
• Pages: 1-13

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INTRODUCTION

  i s what characterizes the treat ment of public

transit at the Toronto city council. The mayor and that council seem to be for

ever asking what form transit ought to take; when it should be built; where

lines should run; where stops should be located; and, most importantly, how

it should all be funded.

Duringt hesedebatesitisnot unusualtohearsomeonesuggestth atthe

answer to many of these questions lies i n some form of private sector involve

ment — what we have come to label a public/private partnership. Howeve r,

there is an irony in any such suggestion t hat is almost certainly lost on those

listening and even on those ma king the suggestion: few realize that it was a

desiretoescapejustsuchapartnershipwithaprivatesectorcompanythat

precipitated and shaped the Toronto Transportation Commission, which we

know as the Toronto Transit Commission or the TTC. That Commis sion was

created in by an Actof the Onta rioleg islature following aplebiscite

on public versus private ownership, but its origins long predate both the

vote and the legislation. The votes cast in favour of public ownership in the

plebisciteandi nthe Ontariolegi slatureweremot ivatedandin uencedby

threedecadesof legalbalesbetween theCitya nditsprivatesectort ransit

provider, the Toronto Railway Company (TRC). Few institutions can be said

to have been formed so directly and materially by a rejec tion of private sec

tor involvement as was the TTC.