Championing LRT For Toronto
In January, 2012, Stintz and Mayor Rob Ford publicly split on what to do with $8.4 billion in provincial government funding for Light Rail Transit (LRT) in Toronto. The once agreed-to Transit City, which added 52 kilometres of LRT for Toronto, was postponed by Premier Dalton McGuinty, based on Mayor Rob Ford's insistence on using the entire $8.4 billion to tunnel as much of the LRT track as possible, with the full knowledge that - when limited to the same $8.4 billion - the cost of tunneling would have resulted in losing much of the track distance. Doing what Ford wanted to have done would have eliminated Etobicoke's Finch West LRT and Scarborough's Sheppard East LRT lines altogether. Also, although promised, no budgetary insight was provided by Ford into how his future underground transit visions, including an extension of the Sheppard Subway, would be financed.
A clause in the March 31, 2011, (MOU) as agreed to by McGuinty and Ford stipulated that approvals from both the TTC and Toronto City Council were obligatory. Once the MOU was signed Stintz requested of Ford a funding and financing plan for any projects not fully financed in the MOU. Ford and his team provided none.
Stintz never received a plan and tried to broker a compromise which could pass at City Council. As it became apparent no compromise could be reached a rare Special Meeting of Toronto City Council was convened on February 8, 2012, to reestablish LRT for Toronto as previously envisioned in the fully-funded Transit City plan. At that meeting, Toronto City Council voted to "affirm its support for the light rail transit priority plan for Toronto".
Subsequent to that loss, and on Mayor Ford's insistence, TTC Chief General Manager Gary Webster was fired "without cause" by the Ford-controlled TTC Commission, with a taxpayer-funded cost of about $500,000. Then-Chief Operating Officer Andy Byford was named interim Chief General Manager (he was subsequently named permanent CEO of the TTC by Stintz and the new Commission).
In March, 2012, as a result of Webster's firing, Stintz asked Toronto City Council to dissolve the nine-member, Ford-controlled TTC Commission. Even though this act would also trigger her resignation from the position of TTC Chair, she felt the act was necessary for "stability and renewal". On March 6, 2012, City Council reconstituted the Commission with seven City Councillors (including Stintz) and four "citizen commissioners", who were eventually selected by Council in October, 2012.
Stintz was again elected TTC Chair by City Council, her tenure extended through the end of term, November, 2014.
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