CONTOUR LINES Mar 2013
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York Geography Alumni Association CONTOUR LINES Mar 2013 Inside this issue: Messages from 2-3 YGAA President and Department Chair AGM Report 4 Edward Spence: 5 Subway Extension New Appointments 11 Tyrone Burke on 12 cycling in Switzer- land Undergraduate 14 Awards Alumni Lectures 15 Kristina Delidjako- 16 va on the Hudson Bay Lowlands Francis Massé on 18 Mozambique Charlotte 21 McCallum on the Eastern Townships Friends of York 24 Geography Fund York University 4700 Keele St. Toronto, ON M3J1P3 York gets the subway — Read all about it on page 5 Click on the logos to join our social media groups! Mar 2013 CONTOUR LINES THE SPADINA SUBWAY EXTENSION THROUGH YORK UNIVERSITY - REFLECTIONS ON THE STRUGGLE FOR APPROVALS Ted Spence, Professor Emeritus York University In January of 1970, I suc- York subway extension. cessfully interviewed for a A brief overview of Subway Construction in Toronto faculty position in the Geog- from 1950 to 1978 raphy Department at York University and that day I In 1954 Toronto’s first subway, the Yonge Line, opened signed a petition in Central from Union Station to Eglinton and in 1963 the University Square urging the provincial Avenue section of the line opened from Union Station to St government to cancel the George. In 1966 the Bloor-Danforth Line opened. In 1973 planned construction of the the Yonge Line was extended to York Mills and then to Spadina Expressway which Finch in 1974. Finally in 1978, the promised Spadina Line would have linked the opened from St George to Wilson. But Toronto’s subway Downsview and York Univer- building boom was over and the Spadina Line ended well sity area to downtown. short of York’s rapidly expanding campus at Keele and When a year later Premier Steeles. Bill Davis announced the Ted Spence cancelation of the express- way we all celebrated a victo- 1993 We Almost Had the Subway to York with the Sub- ry for public engagement in planning and believed the next step way Loop would be the construction of the subway which was planned for In 1985 under the leadership of York University President the same route linking downtown to the northwest parts of the Harry Arthurs, the university established the York University city. None of us imagined it would take 8 years to see the sub- Development Corporation (YUDC) to manage the planning way reach to just north of Highway 401 and then another 38 and development of York’s lands. From the beginning I years before the subway is expected to open to the York cam- served as a member of the YUDC Advisory Council and pus in 2016. was a party to the process that led to the approval of the As my own 39 year career at York evolved my work provided York University Master Plan in 1988. The Master Plan opportunities for me to be involved in campus planning. In clearly laid out York’s goal to see the subway extended to 1997, having completed 10 years as dean of York’ Faculty of the campus. Environmental Studies (FES), I was appointed by University In 1992 the Province of Ontario and the Council of Metro- President Lorna Marsden as her Senior Policy Advisor. For the politan Toronto approved a transit expansion plan, called next 9 years I was directly involved in most significant planning “Let’s Move”, that included 4 subway projects including a decisions at York and I was given specific responsibilities for a Yonge-Spadina Subway Loop from Wilson Station North to leadership role in York’s efforts to see the Spadina Subway Keele and Steeles and then eastward along Steeles to extended to the campus and beyond. In this short article I want Yonge and south to Finch. The concept was an exciting to share some of my experiences as we worked towards gain- one for the University because it would have given our ing approvals and funding from three levels of government to community direct connections to both the Yonge and Spadi- ensure the extension of the subway. na subway lines. The other major competing project pro- Throughout my MSc and PhD studies in geography, at the Uni- posals were for the Eglinton Subway, the Sheppard Sub- versity of Western Ontario and the University of Alberta, re- way and a westward extension of the Boor Subway. spectively, I was encouraged to maintain a broad program of In 1993 Environmental Assessment reports were completed study reflecting the holistic approach of those departments to for each of the proposed subway expansion projects and geography. This meant that in addition to my physical geogra- the Provincial Government under Premier Bob Rae an- phy focus on water resources and resource management, I nounced funding for up to four subway expansion projects always maintained a minor specialization in urban geography including the Spadina Loop. York’s then Vice President of and planning. Later this became a side interest and I became External Relations, Ian Lithgow, along with landowners and engaged in various municipal planning related committees. commercial interests in both Vaughan and North York orga- After joining the FES I participated in the planning program and nized the “Loop Group” to support the Spadina Loop pro- eventually became a full member of the Ontario Professional posal. I recall being part of large York delegations, led by Planners Institute (OPPI). At York I was appointed to the advi- President Arthurs, in attendance at both North York and sory group on university land use planning. In fact by 1997 I Metro Toronto public meetings and council meetings, where had gained a lot of relevant urban experience before taking on the role of advocating for the planning and approvals for the (Continued on page 6) 5 Mar 2013 CONTOUR LINES critical decisions were made. Unfortunately for the University, the Mayor of North York at the time, Mel Lastman, chose to champion the Sheppard Subway proposal over the Spadina Loop proposal. He then appeared to sell out the Spadina Loop at Metro Council in favour of approvals for both the Sheppard and the Eglinton Lines. In the end the Spadina Subway loop lost out to the Eglinton project in a very close vote at Metro Council and we all went home bitterly disappointed feeling the commercial interests in North York had used their political clout to sell out the heavily transit dependent communities of York University and the high density lower income population in 2003 his memorial was attended by all of the major players centres of North York located west of the University along the in the transit field in the GTA. He had done much to lay the full length of Finch Avenue West. groundwork for transit expansion at York. I was also greatly assisted in my work by Cameron MacKinnon a York Environ- It is was at Metro Council in 1993 where I first heard city politi- mental Studies graduate and government relations specialist. cians expressing the view that the Subway should be a Toron- to only resource and the loop extension to Steeles Avenue We knew from our failure in 1993 that York University alone would help developments outside the city and should not be was not enough of an argument to get a subway extension supported. This was a theme that we had to confront over and approved. We also recognized that York University was not over in the following 15 years as we worked to advance the well enough known and understood in the communities of Spadina Subway extension proposals. York Region or in the City of Toronto. Our location was isolat- ed and off the regular travel routes in the GTA and most peo- Had we won approval over the Eglinton Line in 1993 at Metro ple had not recently visited the campus and had no idea of Council, it might have been only a short term victory. In 1995 our recent enrolment growth, or of the size and importance of the new Mike Harris provincial government withdrew funding our university. We set about raising York’s profile throughout from the Eglinton Subway project and even required that the the GTA with an initial focus on York Region and the City of excavations which had begun be filled in. At the same time Toronto. We started building a coalition of interested groups funding for the Sheppard Line was threatened and the pace of to press the subway extension case. construction was slowed with the line not completed until 2002. To this day when I ride the Sheppard Line I am always Beginning in 1998 we established a close working relation- shocked and disappointed by how few riders there are on that ship with the City of Vaughan and York Region. With subway except at rush hours. Sheppard was the first new sub- Vaughan we set up the Spadina-York Subway Extension way line built in Toronto in the 36 years since the 1966 open- Committee (SYSEC). The Group was Co-chaired by Council- ing of the Bloor-Danforth Subway line. lor Mario Racco of Vaughan and myself representing the Uni- versity. The membership included senior planning staff and In anticipation of a future extension of the Sheppard Subway politicians from Vaughan and York Region, senior officials westward to connect with the Spadina Line, a short extension from York Region Transit (YRT) and GO Transit, and two of the Spadina Line to Downsview opened in 1996 providing representatives from the City of Toronto Council, and the a slightly shorter bus ride for York commuters. leadership of major labour union groups. Representatives of the TTC attended all meetings of SYSEC as observers.