Passengers board a TTC streetcar; the TTC come under fire recently over rider photos and videos of what they deem unacceptable service.Peter Power/The Globe and Mail
A bid by a Liberal backbencher to have the Toronto Transit Commission declared an essential service passed an initial hurdle Monday even as the province warned it wasn't a move it would ultimately support.
Former health minister David Caplan has introduced a private member's bill that would prevent a strike or a lockout at the transit commission and lays out an arbitration process in cases where bargaining breaks down.
If passed, the bill would make Toronto's system the first in the province to be declared essential and would open the door for others to be given the same designation.
"I do receive complaints about the service and the perceived decline in service - that highlights to me how important it is in the lives of people in Toronto, whether they use the transit or not," Caplan said.
"Even if you drive your car, when the transit service is not working well, it creates tremendous congestion and gridlock, it makes the city literally impossible to move around in."
While the bill passed first reading with a vote of 39 to seven, opposed only by the NDP, Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynne said it didn't reflect the government's position.
"Our position remains the same - the municipality would have to ask for that action and that has not happened," she said.
"The other issue for me is that there have been many reports that have shown that costs can increase in this kind of situation where there's an arbitration award repeatedly and that's not what we'd like to see."
Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak noted the bill did nothing to address wildcat strikes that have occurred at the Toronto Transit Commission - an organization he says needs a complete overhaul to improve customer service.
The last public transit strike in Toronto was in 2008, when riders were given an hour's notice of the walkout. It ended with the province imposing back-to-work legislation.
Hudak said one thing the bill does show is a split in the Liberal party following Caplan's resignation as health minister amid a spending scandal at eHealth that mostly happened under his predecessor's watch.
"I'm enjoying this new David Caplan, the rebel within the Liberal caucus that is poking (Premier) Dalton McGuinty in the eye," Hudak said.
"I guess you can't blame him, he had to carry George Smitherman's baggage for the eHealth scandal."
Caplan, now a Liberal backbencher, remained focused on the bill itself, saying he didn't buy arguments from Toronto's mayor and most city councillors that such a move would translate into expensive arbitrations.
"Over the last number of rounds of collective bargaining we've had work stoppage and disruption, with resulting chaos in the city, we've had emergency sessions convened at the legislation to order them back to work and an arbitration process put in place anyway," Caplan said.
"Why do we have to go through this entire dance? Why don't the parties know what the rules of the game are going in and get these things settled."
The move could also help the commission, Caplan added, noting that ridership numbers plummet any time there's major disruption.
"One of the best ways to rebuild that trust in the service is if people know what they're going get, they don't have any fear at all that they will be stranded."
Bob Kinnear, president of Toronto's transit workers' union, lashed out against the bill, calling it "a pathetic political ploy by a former McGuinty cabinet member to try to deflect attention away from his government's chronic negligence of environmentally friendly public transit."
"We will commit to improving those service areas over which we have control," Kinnear said.
"But we cannot take responsibility for all those areas of service problems over which we have absolutely no control. That is the responsibility of governments, including the provincial government."
Private member's bills rarely become law. But Caplan said even if his fails to pass, he hopes the government will adopt some of his recommendations.
Toronto's transit system has recently been the focus of a consumer backlash amid ongoing fare hikes, service interruptions and photos of what appear to be sleeping ticket attendants.