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Metrolinx to provide update on completion target for Eglinton Crosstown

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Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow says she is disappointed that a year after missing its last completion date, Metrolinx cannot even provide a new target date for the opening of the troubled Eglinton Crosstown light rail line.

“Deep sigh,” Chow said Wednesday when asked for her reaction to the news. “I’m just really disappointed. For 10 years the residents, the shop owners – everybody’s been waiting – TTC riders. Come on, open it up.”

She said she wants the system to be tested and repaired as needed, but said it should be done “fast.”

“It’s just unbearable. Ten years later, you still can’t tell us when you can open it up? So please, Toronto riders deserve fast, reliable public transit and Eglinton LRT needs to be open. So it’s really disappointing, but please fix it fast and open it up please.”

At a news conference earlier Wednesday, Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster said he still cannot provide a reliable opening date for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT as new problems are being discovered weekly.

“I had every intention to predict an opening date or series or range of possible opening dates for the Eglinton Crosstown with you today,” Verster told reporters at Metrolinx headquarters Wednesday. “But I decided against doing so, based on the fact that CTS is finding and rectifying issues on a week by week basis and that this affects the opening date significantly.”

Olivia Chow

While he wouldn’t share a date range or even commit to the line opening sometime next year, Verster said Metrolinx now has “a really good idea” of when the line will open. He said there is also a “much better schedule” now and the provincial transit agency will be providing updates on the project every two months going forward.

The project was supposed to be substantially complete a year ago, but CTS (Crosslinx Transit Solutions) – the consortium building the line – missed the deadline. It has been without a new target date for completion since.

Construction began on the line in the summer of 2011 and it was originally supposed to open in 2020.

However it has been plagued by delays, including the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in labour and supply chain problems. There has also been litigation between Metrolinx and Crosslinx Transit Solutions over cost overruns.

Crosslinx is a consortium made up of several large construction companies, including ACS-Dragados, Aecon, EllisDon and SNC-Lavalin.

Verster said last year that Metrolinx was doing everything it could to hold the consortium accountable.

He said in August that he would provide a tentative opening date for the line by the end of the summer.

The total cost of the 19-km line now stands at around $12.56 billion.

Verster said the new problems that are being discovered weekly affect the opening date and that any target he were to give today would only be an estimate as opposed to a reliable date.

“We will announce an opening date once the high-risk testing phase is completed,” he promised.

Metrolinx Vice-President Phil Taberner offered a technical briefing and said construction of the line “is pretty much complete” aside from a small section of work at Yonge and Eglinton.

“We’re in an extensive phase of testing and commissioning and through the testing and commissioning, faults and issues will arise,” Taberner said. “The time taken to rectify can be unpredictable which is why we are not prepared to predict the dates at this stage.”

However he said that lane closures related to construction of the line are nearly completely gone aside from a 400-metre stretch near Yonge Street.

Grilled by reporters Wednesday on the fact that he won’t even commit to a date range for completion now, Verster said he has “full accountability” as the head of the agency and that he “serves at the pleasure of the minister.”

He said the Crosstown is “one of the most complex” transit projects in North America at the moment and that it has been delayed by COVID and a range of other factors.

Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria, who was recently named to the file after Caroline Mulroney was moved out in a recent cabinet shuffle, did not attend the update. He had little to say about the indefinite delays to the line when asked about it by reporters at Queen’s Park Wednesday.

“Look, this is a very complicated project as I’ve come to appreciate in the few weeks that I’ve had on this file,” he said. “I appreciate the frustration that many commuters feel.”

However in a statement the opposition NDP called the Crosstown a “disaster” and said Verster – one of Ontario’s highest paid public servants with a salary of close to $900,000 – should be fired.

“Consumed by scandal, Ford’s Conservatives have lost control of the province’s transit agency and the vital Eglinton Crosstown,” NDP Transit Critic Joel Harden said. “It’s clear they can’t build transit projects in this province, and people are left waiting for transit that feels like it will never arrive. What a colossal—and costly—disaster.”

The NDP also took aim at Sarkaria for skipping the update.

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Cineplex reports $24.7M Q3 loss on Competition Tribunal penalty

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TORONTO – Cineplex Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year ago as it was hit by a fine for deceptive marketing practices imposed by the Competition Tribunal.

The movie theatre company says it lost $24.7 million or 39 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $29.7 million or 40 cents per diluted share a year earlier.

The results in the most recent quarter included a $39.2-million provision related to the Competition Tribunal decision, which Cineplex is appealing.

The Competition Bureau accused the company of misleading theatregoers by not immediately presenting them with the full price of a movie ticket when they purchased seats online, a view the company has rejected.

Revenue for the quarter totalled $395.6 million, down from $414.5 million in the same quarter last year, while theatre attendance totalled 13.3 million for the quarter compared with nearly 15.7 million a year earlier.

Box office revenue per patron in the quarter climbed to $13.19 compared with $12 in the same quarter last year, while concession revenue per patron amounted to $9.85, up from $8.44 a year ago.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:CGX)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Restaurant Brands reports US$357M Q3 net income, down from US$364M a year ago

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TORONTO – Restaurant Brands International Inc. reported net income of US$357 million for its third quarter, down from US$364 million in the same quarter last year.

The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says its profit amounted to 79 cents US per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with 79 cents US per diluted share a year earlier.

Revenue for the parent company of Tim Hortons, Burger King, Popeyes and Firehouse Subs, totalled US$2.29 billion, up from US$1.84 billion in the same quarter last year.

Consolidated comparable sales were up 0.3 per cent.

On an adjusted basis, Restaurant Brands says it earned 93 cents US per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 90 cents US per diluted share a year earlier.

The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents US per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:QSR)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Electric and gas utility Fortis reports $420M Q3 profit, up from $394M a year ago

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ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Fortis Inc. reported a third-quarter profit of $420 million, up from $394 million in the same quarter last year.

The electric and gas utility says the profit amounted to 85 cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from 81 cents per share a year earlier.

Fortis says the increase was driven by rate base growth across its utilities, and strong earnings in Arizona largely reflecting new customer rates at Tucson Electric Power.

Revenue in the quarter totalled $2.77 billion, up from $2.72 billion in the same quarter last year.

On an adjusted basis, Fortis says it earned 85 cents per share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 84 cents per share in the third quarter of 2023.

The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 82 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:FTS)

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