Tuesday: David Miller announces "he's working with [Premier]McGuinty to get a deal on permanent provincial support for the TTC's operating budget and has a Dec. 1 deadline to reach it."
Wednesday: Premier McGuinty says "It's wishful thinking to suggest the province can meet a Dec. 1 deadline to come up with a long-term funding deal for the Toronto Transit Commission"
Tuesday: Provincial Liberal insiders make clear "funding for the Toronto Transit Commission would flow through Metrolinx, the province's regional transportation agency, effectively giving the McGuinty government a say over how the dollars are spent" Toronto Mayoral candidate Rocco Rossi backs up this proposition by saying "he doubts that the province will agree to anything that doesn't involve conditions tied to that cash, and likely a management shakeup at the commission. 'The only way that we're going to get a more permanent agreement is if there is an actual management agreement that the province can feel comfortable with'".
Tuesday: Mayor Miller shoots back at this notion by stating "you're taking one of the greatest success stories in this country and risking its future by putting it in the hands of people who aren't trained". Miller does not elaborate on what special training the current TTC Board possess that makes them singularly capable of running the transit system and how putting people who actually are trained in running a transit system might put its future at risk. He also says that the TTC's probelms aren't "about governance...it's about money."
Wednesday: Although it is one of the "greatest success stories in this country," and has no "governance" issues, the city appoints a panel to review the way it serves its customers. Sticking with Miller's messaging that only people with special training can run the TTC, the city appoints a hotel manager who has never worked in the transit industry before, does not live in the city of Toronto and is only an occasional TTC customer to head up the review (and to be clear, I have no problem with O'Brien's appointment, I make the preceding statement only to point out the absurdity of Miller's comments from Tuesday).