TTC riders plan March From Malvern to press case for Eglinton East

Doug Ford’s government made its transit plans public, but some people in East Scarborough disagree.

On Saturday, May 25, they’ll walk from Malvern to a local MPP’s office to try to put another project, the Eglinton East light rail transit line, “back on the map.”

Their March From Malvern for the Eglinton East LRT is meant to show that students and others who live or work in some of Scarborough’s have-not neighbourhoods aren’t giving up.

Toronto Mayor John Tory promised an LRT, from Kennedy Station to the University of Toronto Scarborough campus, would be built along with a Bloor-Danforth subway extension to Scarborough Town Centre.

Later, Tory and Toronto city council agreed the line would go to Malvern Town Centre, bringing its length and cost up to 15 kilometres and nearly $2 billion.

The provincial government's transit announcement last month included $5.5 billion for a subway to Sheppard Avenue and McCowan Road. The LRT line wasn’t mentioned.

Brenda Thompson of Scarborough Transit Action said the Finch West LRT line is in Ford’s plan because businesses and residents fought for it. “We’re starting to see that same kind of push in Scarborough,” she said in Malvern.

The TTC riders advocacy group says marchers will meet at 2 p.m. outside Malvern Presbyterian Church, at Neilson and Tapscott roads, and will walk to Morningside and Sheppard avenues, hoping to hand a letter about the Eglinton East LRT to Scarborough-Rouge Park MPP Vijay Thanigasalam.

Activists also want to express opposition to a provincial government takeover of Toronto's subways and cuts to the city's share of its gas tax.

Dave Madder, a volunteer for Residents Rising, in Kingston-Galloway-Orton Park and West Hill, said he’s witnessed more than a decade of meetings on the Eglinton East LRT, and on an earlier version of the project called the Scarborough-Malvern LRT, but no action.

The area badly needs jobs that the project would bring, he said. “Wherever there’s proper transit, you’ll see growth.”

Reached at his office, Thanigasalam said the subway extension will bring jobs to Scarborough after 30 years when infrastructure has failed to keep up with increases in population.

“I want to bring the development to Scarborough because Scarborough has been neglected for decades,” the Progressive Conservative MPP said.