TORONTO — The top of provincial transit company Metrolinx is resigning after seven years on the job, having turn out to be the goal of frequent criticism for the failure to open the long-delayed Eglinton Crosstown LRT.
TORONTO — The top of provincial transit company Metrolinx is resigning after seven years on the job, having turn out to be the goal of frequent criticism for the failure to open the long-delayed Eglinton Crosstown LRT.
Phil Verster has accepted a brand new place and shall be transferring on as quickly as Dec. 16, Premier Doug Ford introduced Monday.
“I need to thank Phil for his a few years of service to Ontario,” Ford wrote in a press release.
“Phil led and supported explosive development in transit building, together with the biggest growth of public transit in North America. The transportation panorama in Ontario shall be completely higher due to his contributions.”
The company — and Verster particularly — have come underneath frequent fireplace for the long-delayed Eglinton Crosstown venture, which was alleged to open in 2020. There may be nonetheless no projected opening date for the rail line that has been underneath building since 2011.
Verster has blamed the contractor for delays, however critics have lengthy been calling for Verster himself to be fired for failing to ship the transit line.
Inexperienced Occasion deputy chief Aislinn Clancy stated Verster’s departure is an “necessary first step” towards accountability.
“His decade of delays has impacted thousands and thousands of residents and companies, whose tax {dollars} have been paying his million-dollar wage whereas LRT stations on Eglinton sit empty,” she wrote.
Verster made $838,097 final 12 months plus about $13,400 in taxable advantages, based on public sector wage disclosure.
Ford has tapped Michael Lindsay, the president and CEO of Infrastructure Ontario, to be the interim president and CEO of Metrolinx.
Lindsay’s high precedence shall be opening the Eglinton Crosstown as quickly as it’s secure to take action, Ford wrote.
Lindsay has most lately been within the public eye as one of many faces of the federal government’s resolution to abruptly shut the Ontario Science Centre over considerations with its roof.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Dec. 2, 2024.
Allison Jones, The Canadian Press
