November 22, 2002

Thank you, Councillor Disero.

Honourable James Peterson, Honourable Minister Norman Sterling, Honourable Minister David Young and Honourable Associate Minister, Tina Molinari; TTC Commissioners and members of Toronto City Council, Mr. Roschlau, Mr. Kouneski, ladies and gentlemen.

Today is a day of firsts.

The Sheppard Subway is the first subway line we've built in almost a quarter of a century.

It is the first line in Toronto that is fully wheelchair accessible and it is the first new subway line that I have had the privilege of opening as mayor.

There's a lot of history behind this subway line; decades of promises by previous governments that have been made and broken and made again.

It was supposed to go all the way to the Scarborough Town Centre.

It went from being a full-service subway to a no-frills line and then back to being a full-service subway again.

It has cost us $993.9 million to build and ladies and gentlemen, it will be worth every penny.

The Sheppard project created 53,000 person years of employment and annual ridership is projected to be 15 million a year.

The Sheppard subway is going to add one million new riders to the system and density along the Sheppard corridor is building at an unprecedented rate.

By how much you ask? Listen to the following speakers.

There is more; much more.

There's the Canadian Tire development west of Leslie that will include 4,000 condo units in 20 towers, a new 130,000 square foot store and a 20-storey office building.

There's the Avondale neighborhood with eight high-rise condo towers; 160 townhouses and 413 stacked townhouses under construction.

And there's a massive expansion underway at Fairview Mall where they are doubling the square footage of their shopping concourse.

To date, the Sheppard subway line is responsible for 35 million square feet of new development in our city.

Density along the Sheppard corridor is building and it's going to keep building, thanks to the subway and the provincial funds that helped us build it.

This is what the City's new Official Plan is all about; putting people where the transit is to alleviate gridlock.

This is what Kyoto is all about; improving the air we breathe by reducing our dependency on the automobile and increasing our use of public transit.

This is what city building is all about; governments working together, laying the groundwork for future generations to build on.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm ecstatic to be opening the Sheppard Subway today - but I wish we were doing it at the Scarborough Town Centre.

In Shanghai, they are building five new subway lines simultaneously that are scheduled to be completed in 2008. That is on top of the four they already have.

In Singapore, two subway lines are under construction on top of the two they already have.

Canada's major cities are falling behind the rest of the world and we need our partners in Ottawa and Queen's Park to help us stay competitive.

The gridlock alone in Toronto is costing our taxpayers $1 billion a year.

I hope the current provincial government finishes what previous provincial governments started and I hope the federal government gets involved in funding transit immediately, just like other governments from around the world.

Take the Sheppard line all the way to the Scarborough Town Centre.

Subsidize the TTC's operating and capital budgets in a meaningful, on-going way.

Help ensure that public transit in Toronto continues to be the better way - this year, next year and beyond.

Thank you.