LILLEY: Costly and false fight pits trees vs subway and could cost you big time

Activists, and city councillors, telling lies about trees could cost taxpayers between $1 million to $2 million per day.

Over the weekend, construction was halted on the Ontario Line subway project after the Law Society of Ontario (LS0) sought an injunction to save some trees from being cut down.

Metrolinx was cutting down 11 trees out of dozens at the Osgoode Hall location to prepare for a new station and construction entrance point at the northeast corner of University Ave. and Queen St. The claim of activists, including a city councillor and possible future mayoral candidate, Josh Matlow, is that these trees have been there for centuries.

“Metrolinx is clear-cutting trees that have lived in the heart of our city for 200 years,” Matlow tweeted out.

If we’re truthful, Metrolinx wasn’t clearcutting, and these trees haven’t been there for 200 years. The Law Society of Ontario says as much on the audio tours posted to their website about the grounds at Osgood Hall.

“Contrary to popular belief, few if any of the trees go back further than World War Two,” the LSO states. “Many of our trees, including the lindens, honey locusts, and flowering crab apples, date from 1965.”

The trees may be mature, but claiming they are 200 years old, a claim amplified by too many unquestioning voices in the media, is an outright lie. Now, we have a protest movement built on a lie backing up a call for the courts to stop the development of the subway line.

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The idea of using the northeast corner of University and Queen for the subway station’s location has been discussed since at least 2018. Metrolinx met with the LSO — part owner of the Osgood Hall site — as many as 17 times over the following years.

While Metrolinx looked at 10 different sites in the area, the Osgoode Hall location was considered the best and least intrusive option. They sought permission from the provincial government to use the location in February 2021, and it was granted a month later. At no point did the LSO ask for a judicial review.

It was the same in November 2021 when Metrolinx sought and received permission to expropriate the land to begin construction of the project. As Justice William Chalmers noted as he reluctantly granted the injunction, the LSO again did not seek to have the courts review the land expropriation.

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The Law Society only sought a court order to stop construction as the project was beginning, which brings us to the multi-million costs for this delay. The timeline for construction requires this site to be turned over to a new contractor for the next phase of the project no later than May 1, 2023. Each day that this is delayed will cost $1 million to $2 million per day.

With an injunction in place until the end of Friday, we are looking at seven lost days of construction. If they aren’t made up for, it will cost taxpayers up to $14 million – more if there are further delays.

Now consider this: The activists opposed to this are also opposed to car traffic, they demand more transit and yet when the government tries to build more transit, they attempt to stop it. The Ontario Line, once completed, is expected to have almost 400,000 passenger trips per day, reduce congestion on Line 1 and take 28,000 cars off the road.

Are we willing to say no to building that project, or delay it for years of further consultation for trees that date back to 1965? If the people of Toronto want to know what the future will look like if Josh Matlow becomes mayor, this is it — nothing will be built, everything will be protested.

This delay is ridiculous, it is expensive, and it needs to end.