Horwath and Hudak both making vague, happy noises about paying for the “privately funded” Sheppard subway

It looks as though Mayor Rob Ford’s Sheppard subway extension plan might be getting some more love from the people who want to be the next premier than from the guy who currently holds the job. Ford met with NDP leader Andrea Horwath yesterday, and while they came out of the meeting without any firm commitment from the NDP to fund Toronto’s transit system, they did make some pretty positive noises.

According to the Toronto Sun:

“I said to him quite clearly that my understanding was that he was looking for private financing,” Horwath told reporters. “He said that that might not necessarily happen in terms of that there might be a gap.

“I said if I’m in the premier’s chair at the time and you determine what the gap is, we’ll have a conversation. ”

The NDP has committed, if elected, to pay half the operating costs of municipal transit if cities agree to freeze fares for four years.

Not to be outdone, Tim Hudak has said that he’s willing to talk about funding Sheppard if that’s what’s needed. Which means that we’ve gone from a Sheppard extension that was totally privately funded to one that two of the three parties in Queen’s Park are kinda sorta committing to spending provincial cash on. It’s nice to have an election issue that so neatly caters to Toronto. Maybe next we can get the provincial leaders to compete on who will build the most subway tunnels, the way last year’s mayoral candidates did.

• Sheppard subway line faces big gap, Ford says [Toronto Sun]
• Hudak open to Sheppard line [Toronto Sun]

(Images: Horwath, Michelle Tribe; Hudak, Rocco Rossi; subway, Kenny Louie)