Ontario’s auditor general to investigate how Metrolinx picks subway stations

Ontario’s auditor general is investigating how provincial transit agency Metrolinx selected stops on two of its new subway routes as part of a suite of reports into decisions made by the Ford government.

A new page posted to the legislative watchdog’s website reveals the full list of audits Auditor General Shelley Spence and her team are currently undertaking, including the subway probe.

“This audit plans to examine Metrolinx’s processes and procedures for selecting subway stations, with a focus on the Ontario Line and the Yonge North Subway Extension projects,” the auditor’s website said.

The Ontario Line, under construction through parts of downtown and east-end Toronto, was announced by Premier Doug Ford in 2019 as part of a massive subway extension plan.

Its route was similar but not identical to a long-planned downtown relief line for the city, which had been considered to reduce overcrowding.

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NDP MPP Doly Begum welcomed the planned audit, which she said would hopefully offer insights into how the province makes decisions in multi-billion-dollar transit projects.

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“This report will be a welcome bit of sunlight on an unaccountable agency that prefers to keep the public in the dark,” she in a statement.

“With so many multi-billion-dollar Metrolinx projects going off the rails without explanation, the public deserves to know what is going on inside Metrolinx’s black box.”

A spokesperson for Metrolinx said the agency was “fully cooperating” with the auditor general.

The auditor general is also engaging in a number of other audits, which touch on areas including the government’s use of artificial intelligence and how commercial truckers are granted their licences.

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As Global News previously reported, early learning and child care are under review, along with special education in Ontario’s schools.

The full list of audits are as follows:

Auditor general reports are generally released at the end of each year.

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