The lack of connection outside the downtown core has hurt communities kept on the periphery from accessing different neighbourhoods across the city. One area of the city that has been underserved by transit for years is Little Jamaica. Situated on Eglinton West Ave from Marlee Ave to Keele St., this bustling enclave has been a cultural staple of the city for decades. However, Little Jamaica has remained disconnected from the city centre and the wider Black community. Without a car to drive on the often busy Eglinton Ave, visitors to Little Jamaica will take incredibly long bus rides or several interchanges on the subway. For many in the Black community who live in areas like Malvern, it can be challenging to visit Reggae Lane. That is all set to change soon.

Under construction since 2011, the Eglinton Crosstown Rail Transit (LRT) is one of the most anticipated infrastructure projects in Toronto’s history. The 25-station light rail will cut across Eglington avenue from Scarborough, through Etobicoke, and to Mississauga, eventually reaching Pearson Airport. The project is estimated to cut travel times by 60% and save those on either end of the city an embarrassingly long bus ride or convoluted multimodal transit ride. Once complete, the LRT will revolutionize areas such as Little Jamaica and give them the connectivity to thrive as a Black hub and municipal landmark. Yet, as necessary as this project is for Torontonians and others in the GTA, it is a giant nuisance to nearby business owners, commuters and anybody who hates chaos.

The decade-long construction of the line has slowed business, made it incredibly difficult to transit or drive in the area, and increased dust and noise pollution. While many expected the project to be finished by the fall of 2022, that time has come and gone while the project continues to disrupt daily life for those in its way, including the businesses in Little Jamaica. Earlier in December 2022, an internal Metrolinx report (obtained by CBC Toronto) revealed that there was "no credible plan" to complete the project and they have no idea when it might finally open.

Another day, another delay for a city that seems to make a national sport of doing construction wrong. Everyone complains about their city's slowness, but Toronto is almost purposefully slow and behind schedule. Constantly. I wonder why a project to connect poor and racialized communities from Scarborough to Etobicoke is so hard to complete. Instead of accepting delays as a part of big city life, it's worth investigating why and what to do about it.

So who is Crosslinx, and why are they behind schedule? Crosslinx Transit Solutions (CTS) is a design and construction consortium established to deliver and maintain the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. The consortium comprises four global and local leaders in transportation infrastructure: ACS-Dragados, Aecon, EllisDon and SNC-Lavalin. Yes, that is Lavalin from the Canadian scandal. Working with Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario, the group collectively acts as a private-public partnership.

According to the OECD, private-public partnerships (P3) are long-term agreements between the government and a private partner.  The private partner delivers and funds public services using a capital asset and shares the associated risks. These agreements are meant to be efficient ways to create public infrastructure that would privatize the risk of cost overruns but deliver precisely what the public has hoped for. However, if anything is clear from this LRT project, P3s don't deliver what they promise.

Already the most expensive transit project in Canada, the $5.3 billion, 19 km line is on its billionth delay. The first happened in 2018 when taxpayers were forced into paying an extra $237 million to keep the project on the right timeline, later; in 2021, taxpayers were again forced to pay $325 million by a judge after Metrolinx accused the consortium of failing to meet construction timelines. And now there are said to be more delays, even as we paid to keep the company on time.

Crosslinx and Metrolinx are being coy as to why this raft of delays. The CBC Toronto previously reported the major issues causing the most recent delay are underground engineering complications at Yonge and Eglinton. That is part of the frustration faced by citizens. No one knows what is going on and who is to blame. Politicians like NDP MPP Jill Andrew and city councillor Josh Matlow demanded transparency from Crosslinx and Metrolinx and called out the harm done to businesses along the transit corridor. To address the disruptive delays to businesses, she has asked the government to enact the Little Jamaica and Midtown Small Business and Community Economic Health and Wellness Strategy, a mechanism to provide financial compensation to those most affected by the decade-long project.

"Black-owned businesses in Little Jamaica, as well as other small business owners across midtown, deserve better than constant and costly delays and disruptions," Andrew said. 

While the federal government did provide a $1 million grant over three years to Black businesses in the area, that is insignificant to the amount of business lost over the past years. One of those losing from construction is Nicola Martin, the owner of Ethan Chill Spot, she spoke with City News to air her frustrations.

“You’re not making any money, but you want to keep your business because it’s something that they invest in, and you’re looking to the future.”

As Torontonians struggle to access viable transportation, we can only look lovingly at the last time a project in this city came in on time and within budget. The Sheppard subway was delivered at a breathtaking pace and on budget, thanks partly to the TTC’s role as the constructor. Compared to the P3 strategy, having the TTC construct its project gave increased accountability. The five-station, 5.5 km line opened in 2002 after just eight years of construction, costing just under $1 billion. The Sheppard project benefited from the availability of land in the area, but at least it is a full subway, while the LRT is only a light rail. My biggest worry is after all this work, the line will become so busy that we will regret scrapping the late Mayor Ford's idea to build the LRT as an underground subway.

We can argue the decisions made until the end of time (or until Toronto finally gets a relief line). However, Little Jamaica is still getting an east-west corridor connection, which could be revolutionary for the community and the city. For too long, Little Jamaica has gone unnoticed outside the Caribbean community. There is no reason the area shouldn’t attract mobs of people like other ethnic enclaves like Greektown or Little Italy do. Once they finally have the transit connections necessary to bring in people from all over the city, Little Jamaica can become the hotspot the community already knows it is.