Province should intervene with LRT, Harden urges

The provincial government should help fix Ottawa's ongoing issues with its new light railsystem, according to the MPP for Ottawa Centre.

"We put $1 billion into this," Joel Harden told Radio-Canada Saturday, notinga provincial bodycalled Infrastructure Ontariohelped the City of Ottawa to underwrite thecontract withRideau Transit Group (RTG), the builder of the Confederation light rail line.

"The fingerprints of the province are on this project. It is also accountable."

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The NDP MPP held a public meeting Saturday afternoon to hear from commuters about theirconcerns withLRT.

The new light rail trains, designed to revolutionize the capital region's transit system, have instead been an ongoing headache for commuters and politicians alike.

'Extremely frustrating'

OC Transpo is now keeping 20 buses on standby for when the LRT breaks down. The city has also withheld payments from the maintenance branch of RTG.

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"It is rotten, public transport in Ottawa," said LRT commuter Philippe Parisot, who attended the public forum,in a French-language interview with Radio-Canada.

"Is it frustrating? Yes, extremely frustrating," added Daniel Tucker-Simmons, another transit user.

Harden said Premier Doug Ford needs to find out what the underlying problems are.

Help has been promised

Just over two weeks ago, Nepean MPP Lisa MacLeod, the province'sminister of heritage, sport, tourism and culture,offered her department's support to get the trains back on track.

Still, there'sbeen no formal announcement from the Progressive Conservative government.

Former city councillor and mayoral candidate Clive Doucet also attended Saturday'smeeting, held in the basement of Centretown United Church on Bank Street.

He wondered why Mayor Jim Watson hasn't shoulderedmore of the blame for the flawed transit system.

"If we go around the world, it would be very difficult to find a worse example than Ottawa," Doucet said.

Harden said the whole process needs greater transparency, especially from RTG, so that people can know precisely what the problems with LRTare.

"It shouldn't end up in secrecy."