Doug Ford promises all-day GO train service in Milton — if Ottawa steps up

“We’re going to keep urging the federal government to join us in a true cost-sharing partnership to build a fully separated passenger rail line, so we can finally make two-way all-day GO train service a reality here in Milton,” Ford said Monday at the Milton GO station.

“We’re 1,000 per cent committed,” he said, stumping for the May 2 byelection in a riding his Progressive Conservatives have held since 2018.

Asked about the fact his hand-picked candidate, former three-term councillor Zee Hamid, was an active Liberal until a few weeks ago, Ford insisted he’s “not big on political stripes.”

“I welcome all Liberals, that’s how we got elected. You can’t get elected in this country, in this province, in any city based on one stripe,” he said.

As part of the transit changes, every second UP Express train will be a non-stop run to and from Union Station to Pearson Airport. That means riders using Bloor and Weston stations will have to wait 30 minutes instead of 15 minutes.

Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie, meanwhile, said after two terms in government, it is Ford’s fault transit isn’t moving the way it should.

“Gridlock is a major priority here in Milton and across the GTA, but Doug Ford’s false promises, delays and dithering have only made the problem worse,” said Crombie, flanked by Liberal candidate Galen Naidoo Harris.

“Throughout my time as mayor of Mississauga, I led the charge for all-day, two-way GO train service on the Milton line, but one person stood in the way,” she said of the premier.

Naidoo Harris, manager of community affairs for Liberal MP Adam van Koeverden, is the son of former education minister Indira Naidoo Harris, who represented Milton from 2014 until 2018.

He pointed out that Ford cancelled planned upgrades to Milton’s GO station four years ago and has yet to move forward with a second station in the area.

“This riding has had a Conservative MPP since 2018 and it’s only now, when this seat is at risk, that Doug Ford has managed to find Milton on the map,” said Naidoo Harris.

While the federal Liberal government pledged a share of funding for all-day service in 2021, Queen’s Park has maintained more money is needed for such a massive undertaking.

Ford’s Tories have high hopes of holding both Milton and the London-area riding of Lambton-Kent-Middlesex next month.

But still stinging from losing byelections last July to Liberals Andrea Hazell in Scarborough-Guildwood and Karen McCrimmon in Kanata-Carleton, they aren’t leaving anything to chance.

To that end, they are spending millions of dollars on a TV advertising blitz promoting Ford and attacking Crombie.

The byelections were triggered by the departures of two cabinet ministers.

Milton’s Parm Gill fled Ford’s fold to run for Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives in the federal election expected next year, and Monte McNaughton resigned to become executive vice-president of industry relations at Woodbine Entertainment.

McNaughton, who had represented Lambton-Kent-Middlesex since 2011 and was widely seen as a potential Tory leader, blindsided the premier when he quit as labour minister on Sept. 22.

Gill’s exit also surprised Ford. A former MP in prime minister Stephen Harper’s caucus, the red tape reduction minister quit on Jan. 25.

A big issue in the Milton campaign is the proposed reopening of the Campbellville quarry, which is opposed by many area residents and the local council.

ACTION Milton, a community activist group, on Monday urged Ford to stop the quarry over concerns it said could impact drinking water for 20,000 people in the region.

The residents said Ford has the power to prevent the project from going forward by rezoning the land so no costly environmental assessment process is required.

George Minakakis, chair of ACTION Milton, warned the quarry would have “catastrophic consequences.”

Ford would only say he wanted to let the ongoing environmental assessment process play out.

Also running in Milton is NDP candidate Edie Strachan, a regional vice-president for the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, while the Greens have chosen community activist Kyle Hutton. 

In Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, Chatham-Kent Coun. Steve Pinsonneault is in battle to hold the seat for the Tories. Lucan Biddulph Mayor Cathy Burghardt-Jesson is the Liberal candidate.