Ford’s third rail : general manager of the Toronto Transit Commission, it evidently isn’t good enough to be a highly respected civil engineer with more than 30 years of dedicated service at Canada’s largest transit system. It’s apparently necessary to agree with the mayor too, even if he’s demonstrably wrong.

general manager of the Toronto Transit Commission, it evidently isn’t good enough to be a highly respected civil engineer with more than 30 years of dedicated service at Canada’s largest transit system. It’s apparently necessary to agree with the mayor too, even if he’s demonstrably wrong.




Gary Webster, who currently fills the driver’s seat at the TTC, has all the right credentials and track record. But he has seemingly stepped on a third rail in Mayor Rob Ford’s administration by failing to support an ill-judged extension of the Sheppard subway.



It’s one of the mayor’s pet projects. He rashly killed a fully-funded light-rail line planned for Sheppard, hoping to replace it with a subway that the city can’t afford to build. Ford’s plan to have the private sector cover the $4 billion cost is dubious, at best, and appears to be going nowhere. No responsible TTC general manager would count on that option.



Yet rather than heed transit system experts and modify his plan, Ford reportedly wants to replace Webster with a more malleable figure. Names being circulated as possible replacements include Case Ootes, a former city councillor whose main qualification is an unbending loyalty to the mayor.



Replacing Webster with a political crony would do no favour to the TTC or its ridership. And it would send a chilling signal to other city managers. This is a mayor who needs strong, professional advice, whether or not he recognizes it.