Metrolinx CEO apologizes for Eglinton Crosstown delays, says still no date set to open LRT

[@574R5CR34M]

Side story: in 2011-14 I worked for a company that was responsible for doing core samples, and traffic control for metrolinx, the amount of times their geological technicians confirmed a spot for drillers to drill, and hit a watermain, or underground cables was mind baffling. There were even times when the drillers would try and say no this is not the correct spot to drill, and a white helmet pencil holding metrolinx employee would show up and tell them to drill where told. One day I was removed from the project site because a woman from metrolinx told me I had to be a crossing guard for a local high school, because we had construction going on near the school, That was not in my job description, and I had multiple sites to visit that day, So I asked one of our actual traffic control employees to handle the cross walk. Metrolinx lady (Im withholding her name here) did not like the fact that I wouldn't do it, so she contacted the owner of our company directly, and had me removed from the site. I lost the job shortly after because it was the primary contract our small scab company was doing. Absolute shit show, I can only sit back and laugh while being a bit upset being a Torontonian that would use this line often.

[@johnnewington6635]

See my post, it’s a shame Phil did not have influence at the time. From my experience, he sees through bullshitters and manipulative people very quickly and positively calls them out for this trait. I found that he did indeed upset a lot of people, but when you critically thought about the traits of the people that got upset. It was clear, he had seen them for the people they really were, bullshiters and manipulative people. I expect he has upset, “by calling out” a fair few of these types in this new role. A least it allows the wider ordnance to see these people for who they really are and the terrible long term damage these types do for an industry/country.

[@jarrettbobbett5230]

The corruption in Canadas construction industry is disgusting. The owners of these contractor companies become Rich while the tax payers get screwed. But what do I know im just a laborer in Ontario's biggest labor union local 183.

[@JayBeachTV]

💯👍

[@OptimusWombat]

LOL, your union friends are part of the problem. They want the gravy train to keep rolling. Their nice well paid jobs are done once the Crosstown construction is over. I'm not at all surprised that there are entire sections of track that need to be replaced because they weren't laid down correctly the first time. To be clear, I'm blaming everyone involved here: the government, the consortium contracted to build this white elephant, and the guys working on building it.

[@JayBeachTV]

Jarrett those union ppl your referencing are not his friends. He said he's just a laborer. Yes they are also part of the problem. It's an unjust world that's forsure

[@HenriqueTavares]

The most impressive demonstration of incapability, lack of commitment, accountability, responsibilities and so on and so forth, and yet he still in charge with a huge salary in his pocket.

[@FrankChiappetta-p2b]

Not to mention anything under the table

[@SohaibKhan1]

An ordinary worker apologizes for a mistake and gets fired. An incredibly rich construction CEO making 870k a year apologizes and nothing happens. Fire this jerk

[@OptimusWombat]

When did this happen?

[@sanjarsocool]

how the hell can they just operate without a deadline does he not realize this is a public project that is funded by the public? it’s shameful for him to come up and just say there are issues to be fixed like it isn’t metrolinx at fault.

[@toshiba360]

free money and work from the government. why finish it

[@barthalomeowthegreat8470]

What hell is happening to this country.

[@barthalomeowthegreat8470]

Enough is enough!

[@sanjarsocool]

@@toshiba360 it so disgusting how corrupt this country is in every level of power

[@blurtam188]

This company should refund us tax payers the full amount they have stolen from us

[@OptimusWombat]

Unfortunately Metrolinx is an Ontario crown corporation. In other words, they have no money to refund, because they are the government.

[@jdavisfm1399]

Being living for 25 years in this city . And the Eglinton construction being going for 20 years around specially Allen Rd ., this proyect is the cherry on the top ……… the CEO never say when it is gonna be open .

[@Ryan-sn2bk]

So you’re telling me no one did Quality control during any stage of the project? Can they not do a weekly report and complete in stages?

[@goylanddefree80]

Dissolve this useless incompetent organization

[@sudarg5005]

"We're not gonna focus on which year it is"... dude can't even commit to a year in the near future? Jeez

[@SmileySimian]

Grow some balls and hold Crosslinx to account!

[@lominiski]

Why not buy that from China? Hong Kong does better than this by far. This is ending up like the Sydney Opera House. Now that schedule has failed the project. How is it on budget?

[@tymciach5003]

Well said

[@JayBeachTV]

Sad to see what's happening to this country.

[@Estate1997Italia]

He should resign

[@blurtam188]

He should be charged with fraud

[@DingisMaximus]

Construction started in 2011, he came on in 2017. You can't blame him for what he did not do. The problems are from the beginning.

[@johnnewington6635]

@@DingisMaximus So true, Look at the culture of those people in charge, before Phil started to understand why the problems occurred.

[@OptimusWombat]

0:54 "... we're not going to guess which year it is ..." 🤦‍♂

[@americanhotdog]

Defund CBC

[@delicious_seabass]

You know they're working hard because the hardhats are on.

[@signoresantinoburnett1169]

Tokyo has a massive $30 billion dollar infrastructure project on the go and Toronto can't even get a light rail line built. What a pathetic excuse for a "major" city it is.

[@Jason_Canada]

We paid for it once

[@574R5CR34M]

Remember when Rob Ford made arguements that the construction of a crosstown LRT would cause 5-10 years of extreme congestion in the city and was a terrible idea to try and budget for? but everyone was too busy focused on the fact that he had addiction problems? I remember. Memba berries remember, pepperidge farms remembas

[@andrewenglish3810]

It sounds like Metrolinx bit of more than they can chew with this project and should have focused on getting a partial completetion done then trying to get it fully completed. This way they can address the problems of the most problematic parts after the system is partially running, and then continue down the line until each part is fully completed and operational. As we set on getting rid of Trudeau and Ford I hope the next government doesn't continue to allow Metroxlinx to take on big projects they cannot complete on time but only give them smaller projects to do.

[@OptimusWombat]

Metrolinx is literally a crown corporation with the mandate to build and in some cases (e.g., GO Transit) own and operate transit infrastructure in Ontario. There is no one else. Presto card is their baby. The Ontario and Finch West LRT lines are also being built by them, and they will retain ownership while the TTC operates those lines under contract. Similar sort of deal for the Crosstown LRT. If anything, these guys are getting bigger and bigger.

[@GHT-t5d]

In a proper country he would be in jail by now for wasting taxpayers money

[@TORSA691008]

BLA, BLA, BLA...... What a shame !!!..... This guys from METROLINX seems to come from the same mold than Trudeau and Freeland!

[@garybaines6442]

So he admitted the track was laid down inaccurately somehow, and that it was repaired. Something like that is a huge delay, he also mentioned signalling system needs tuning and that’s unacceptable. That system is based mostly on sensors and it shouldn’t be causing problems already. This South African better be yelling at people on the job

[@lazerlayne]

This poor bastard has to take the lump at the media level, but someone needs to be fired immediately....no questions asked....this is 1000% unacceptable.....!!!!!!!!!!

[@mellow-jello]

Verster definitely accountable to unacceptable delays. I am sure it is coincides with higher fares by Metrolinx to cover the fines & legal fees.

[@Vicstarz26]

The LRT is complete joke! The CEO is a clown, Doug Ford lost everyones trust in Ontario, all these projects should have been done 30 years ago if not more...

[@robmil2012]

This was not Doug Fords project 😊 The eglinton subway was started 30 years ago and abandoned at a cost of millions of dollars 😊

[@Vicstarz26]

@@robmil2012 Meaning Doug Ford in general lost everyone’s trust and isn’t the best fit to lead Ontario

[@justin-chen5678]

Yeah keep digging into our pockets. Get rid of him.

[@anotheran]

If I ran my multi million dollar projects like this, I’d be fired.

[@yomongamer5841]

I'm just happy gta 6 will come out before this shtshow comes live

[@swpowell1226]

All I heard from this guy was blah, blah, blah, blah I know nothing else. I'm incompetent so don't ask me about anything. I should resign but I won't. I'm a CEO, you don't really expect me to do anything but collect my paycheck do you ? That's what CEOs are for, to steal the most money out of a project and do no work.

[@colemacfarlane6731]

Total corruption, sick and tired of these people going over budget and wasting taxpayers money. If you can’t do the job, you should be fired.

[@thatlittlevoice8292]

Could they also aplologize for all of their annoying PSAs in my podcasts?

[@ilichmejia3137]

What a joke maybe for the 2026 world cup?

[@robmil2012]

He should be ashamed of himself and fired😊

[@anthonymichaels257]

It will only be finished by World Cup 2026 if Italy is playing😂 IYKYK

[@muddgeeser]

B S>

[@DarkFright]

In Japan this would only take a 8-10 months minimum 1 year max. Embarrassing.

[@OptimusWombat]

According to the Ontario "Sunshine List", this incompetent tool made $856,552 in 2022. In 2018 (his first full year in this position) he made $506,280. Nice pay increases.

[@haiderkarim5446]

The work team is unprofessional and the work carried out is not according to specifications or code, and those responsible must resign and bear the mistakes

[@dreadpirateroberts8230]

You're not going to guess? Why stop now.....This whole project is one big guess lol

[@anotheran]

A ceo can’t answer when this will get done. lol. Imagine a public company ceo said this during an analyst call. It would tank stocks.

[@schnuurtchke]

The wheels on the tram 🚊 go round and roundabout

[@selennya2408]

I hope that he is not announcing his retirement soon and he could let this project inconclusive. After all those years with not transparency how this project is running, at this point everything could happen.

[@eatrunandtravel]

So the trains will only be operational during the summer? They didn’t use any winter proof materials to build these tracks and stations? BAHAHAHAHA!!!! They cut corners and used cheap non winter resistant materials 😂 this is too much

[@MikeAllan_SEOCoach]

Don’t focus on the year? JFC how much longer do you need?

[@PegasusIzwhack]

0:29 look at that confident ass face.

[@blurtam188]

No accountability and he gets to just keep stealing our money

[@timothyj1966]

‼EVERYONE unhappy with Trudeau & Singh Coalition! PLEASE ****** SIGN & SHARE Fed Petition e-4701 to call a NON CONF VOTe!⚠ ⚠

[@signoresantinoburnett1169]

I am more p.ssed off with Pierre voting down a lunch program for Canadian kids.

[@davidboyan7409]

What this guy said is just politically correct, but useless.

[@robmil2012]

What station is this at😊

[@funvideofan1625]

Eglinton Station, because to the left of line 1 logo there is “Eglinton Ave East” and there’s if it was at Eglinton West Station, It would have had Eglinton Ave West

[@OptimusWombat]

@@funvideofan1625 I don't know why they're naming it "Eglinton Station". Technically it should either be called "Yonge Station" or "Yonge-Eglinton" because the LRT is running along Eglinton, and stations should be named according to the cross street.

[@MilosObradovic-db9jt]

What about electricity? Bitcoin!

[@rulz2663]

Incompetence.

[@JonniMartinez]

The issue is why the LRT has defects and not built properly… and people need to remember that any subway or major LRT project takes 8-12 years

[@tymciach5003]

Not in countries that function properly

[@toshiba360]

corruption at its finest.

[@JayBeachTV]

💵🇨🇦💵🇨🇦💵🇨🇦💵🇨🇦💵🇨🇦💰💰

[@MilosObradovic-db9jt]

Who doing geodetic?

[@chizzymomentum1807]

Jokes!!! We should employ Chinese railway to fix our problem Cos we can’t clearly!!!! 👀😂😅🤣🤣🤷🏾‍♂️ 10 fucking years!!!!!!

[@laurabellinger5683]

Just another rip off. Just like line 4. That cost millions just like this crap. How much are these criminals pocketing?.

[@robmil2012]

More than the crooks in Ottawa 😊

[@OptimusWombat]

Agreed. An entire subway line with only five stations 🤦‍♂

[@passion4923]

Shameless and sickening! He needs to be fired immediately and others like him connected to this fiasco!!

[@MilosObradovic-db9jt]

Corruption, stills money from city hall

[@weedface43]

What a joke. A crew of people built a whole railway system across this country faster than this company can build a little system. Pathetic.

[@anthonymichaels257]

The railway system that was built across this country wasn't controlled by organized crime

[@brianmanning4791]

Third world countries are building their projects faster than then these idiots

[@OptimusWombat]

It's too bad you can't import Chinese manual labourers anymore and pay them a pittance. Both the unions and the conservatives would have a fit. /s

[@Gago_ka143]

Why finish it that’s finishing the corruption

[@Jason_Canada]

Has this been a cyber attack ?

[@FrankChiappetta-p2b]

That’s what you get when you hire the least expensive contractors. You get what you pay for! I feel bad for the businesses that closed because of the construction and the inconvenience the local residents had to put up with all these years. Metrolinx, close up shop and let real companies do any future projects.

[@nmariam123]

this will be ready maybe 2025

[@MilosObradovic-db9jt]

Fake certificate

[@tymciach5003]

Welcome to the future of Canada

[@hlneira]

Can you all repeat after me, washing machine. $$$$$

[@jonsquirrel1438]

Good bye metropolis of old.

[@miakmo59]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂