Ontario to set Ottawa LRT inquiry terms within weeks: Mulroney
Ontario’s transportation minister says the province plans to establish the terms of reference for its public inquiry into Ottawa’s problem-plagued LRT system “in the coming weeks.”
Caroline Mulroney says before the province moves forward with funding Stage 2 of the project, “we need to understand what went wrong with Stage 1.”
“We’re going to determine the scope, we’re going to set out the terms of reference, but the key is to get recommendations before we proceed with Stage 2,” she told Newstalk 580 CFRA’s The Morning Rush with Bill Carroll on Thursday. “People in Ottawa want answers as quickly as possible.”
Cabinet voted Wednesday to launch the full public inquiry into the LRT system, which was shut down for two months this fall after a derailment on Sept. 19.
Along with setting out the scope, the province will also identify a commissioner to run the inquiry in the coming weeks, Mulroney said.
She later told reporters at Queen’s Park that she hopes to have recommendations in the new year. The inquiry will look into the safety of the trains, technical elements, value for money and accountability, including examining the procurement process.
She said she has friends in Ottawa whose children have been stranded when trains don’t arrive and have been late for school.
“We’ve been concerned about it for some time,” she said. “We’ve just decided we need to focus on what the root causes are of the chronic problems that have been plaguing Stage 1 before we move forward.”
Mulroney said the province will foot the bill for the inquiry, but did not say how much it might cost.
“The people of the city of Ottawa have been living with a system for two years now that’s not working,” she said. “They want answers. They deserve a system that works.”
The province pledged $600 million for Stage 1 of LRT and is set to contribute $1.2 billion to Stage 2.
Mayor to province: ‘Stop surprising us’
Mayor Jim Watson said he supports the province’s public inquiry, but suggested he felt blindsided by Wednesday’s announcement.
“The province has not once in the last two years expressed any interest or concern about our system,” he said. “My only request to the province is: please stop surprising us. Let us know in advance when you’re going to make a decision that affects our taxpayers.”
“I’ve received no official word from the ministry of transportation, and as a partner I expect that this kind of communication should be free-flowing on both sides.”
Mulroney said provincial officials have been in contact with the mayor’s office in the past few months.
“We’ve been in contact back and forth with the mayor’s office over just a lot of the issues that have arisen over the past few months,” she said. “And so he knows that the province has been concerned.”
Ottawa city councillors voted earlier this month against holding a judicial inquiry into the LRT, and instead have the city’s auditor general investigate.
Watson said Thursday he still believes the auditor general’s report will be the best way to get answers about the LRT, and that work will continue.
The auditor general said she’s waiting to see the public inquiry’s terms of reference before deciding whether to continue with her investigation.
"With the recent news of the province’s decision to launch a Public Inquiry, my Office is reviewing the best way we can continue to add value while being prudent with tax payer dollars," Nathalie Gougeon said in a statement to CTV News Ottawa.
"It is too soon for my Office to make a decision on its next course of action until we have further information from the province on the potential scope of the work they will be undertaking.
Gougeon previously said the goal was to present at least the first part of her audit to the city by June.
With files from CTV News Ottawa's Josh Pringle
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.