Harden: Ottawa LRT debacle: “a failure of leadership and accountability"

OTTAWA - Ontario NDP MPP Joel Harden (Ottawa Centre), Official Opposition Critic for Transit and Active Transportation, is once again calling out the Ford government for its ongoing mismanagement of critical public projects, following revelations that the Ottawa LRT train cars weren’t built properly. This latest setback has OC Transpo and its partners proposing redesigning the train's wheel hub assembly to address a long-standing challenge. In the meantime, the train's services will pause for an anticipated three-week period during the repair process, causing more frustration among taxpayers.

Harden’s statement:

"The never-ending situation with the Ottawa LRT system is nothing short of a major disappointment, reflecting a Conservative government that has consistently put costly private partnerships ahead of effective public services. Mistakes of this magnitude should never be allowed to occur, and it's clear that this project was compromised from the very beginning.

This is not the first instance of mismanagement - in the first four years alone, we witnessed derailments, mechanical failures, broken wires and tunnel leaks.

The entire City of Ottawa and its council were deliberately lied to and told the LRT had passed its technical requirements. In reality, it fell significantly short. The public deserves full disclosure of all LRT deficiencies. Ontarians are struggling right now, and every dollar matters. The inability to provide dependable transportation to the people has embarrassed our city and has shaken people’s trust in transit at a time when we need to get more people moving."