Opposition to LRT expansion in Cambridge

Despite a nearly unanimous committee vote, not everyone is on board with an LRT expansion into Cambridge. CTV’s Jeff Pickel finds out why.

Despite almost unanimous support at a regional committee meeting earlier this week, some of those who represent the City of Cambridge are not completely on board with plans to expand light rail transit (LRT) to the city.

On Tuesday, members of the Sustainability, Infrastructure and Development committee voted in favour of moving forward with a staff recommendation to add 17 kilometers of track to Waterloo Region’s light rail transit line, creating a new link from Fairway Road in Kitchener to Ainslie Street in Galt.

The plan comes with a hefty $4.1 billion price tag.

Some business owners and the executive director of the Downtown Cambridge Business Improvement Area (BIA) have spoken out in favour of the project, but not everyone sees the purported benefits.

“Out of roughly 1,000 residents I spoke with about the LRT, only three supported it,” Helen Shwery, a Cambridge councillor, said.

Her comments do not line up with a regional survey that was conducted by an independent firm. That survey suggested 74 per cent of Cambridge residents who took part in the survey supported the extension.

But Shwery is not the only dissenting voice.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against rapid transit,” Cambridge Mayor Jan Liggett said. “It’s just the line in which it’s going to go and how much money we’re spending on a specific type of rapid transit.”

Liggett said the route that was supported by the committee on Tuesday is not her preferred option.

“Mass transit needs to be taking people to their workplace, not to a shopping mall, not to a downtown core where they can go to a club or something,” she explained.

Liggett is also skeptical of a business plan presented by the Region of Waterloo. It stated there could be $5 billion in development investment along the proposed LRT line, in addition to hundreds of millions of dollars in potential property tax opportunities.

“The people who are going to make money off of that are the developers,” Liggett said. “The taxpayers are paying for somebody else to gain from.”

The plan to extend the LRT still needs council approval. A ratification vote will be held next week.