Spadina Expressway - Ramifications

Ramifications

The debate over the Spadina Expressway, and its eventual cancellation, is regarded as a watershed moment in local politics. Toronto City Council was changing at the time to oppose the "top-down" planning of the Metro government. A "Reform Era" in Toronto politics was blossoming, which brought to Toronto City Hall the likes of David Crombie, John Sewell, Allan Sparrow and Colin Vaughan. This new council viewed the Metro government and its officials with suspicion as not being accountable to local residents. In the 1950s and 1960s, Metro and City Councils had pushed through numerous large projects in transportation, and housing. The impacts on the central neighbourhoods had been substantial and had led to grassroots organizing. Councillors Sewell and Vaughan came directly from the grassroots campaigns.

According to Albert Rose in his study of Metro from 1953–1971, the cancellation of the project raised four issues that would affect Metro Council afterwards:

• Who Plans? - Until this point, planning had been done by professional planners or Metro department heads based on technical issues, such as projected traffic congestion. Metro had not provided a policy for the planners to follow.
• Role of the OMB in Policy - The OMB was in charge of approving capital borrowing, a consideration dating from the days of the Depression. In the case of the Spadina, it had had to decide on an issue far beyond approving whether a municipality could afford the project.
• Role of the OMB in Planning - The OMB became an approver of land development disputes, which often pitted municipalities or residents or developers against each other. Was this an appropriate role for the OMB?
• Role of the Metro Chairman - The Metro Chairman did not appear at the OMB to defend the project at the OMB. Chairman Campbell took a neutral position on a very important project.

Source: Rose(1972)

Premier Davis called a provincial election not long after the decision, in October 1971. Davis' campaign strategy used the Spadina decision to differentiate his government from past Progressive Conservative governments. Davis, who was both attacked and lauded for the Spadina cancellation, was re-elected with increased support in Toronto. Davis would remain in power in Ontario until 1985, when he retired from politics.

The Spadina Expressway cancellation marked the beginning of the end of construction of Metro's planned expressway network. Metro highway projects such as the Crosstown, Scarborough and Richview expressways did not proceed. Other than extending the Allen Road, Metro Toronto did not build another expressway, and erased the other expressways from its official plans. Metro would proceed in future years to complete the Spadina subway line, extend the Yonge Street line, and build the Sheppard subway line.