Olivia Chow seeking extra $10M to speed up construction of Scarborough transit line

Mayor also pushing for support in seeking 'tri-government' funding from province, feds for TTC's future Line 7

Published Apr 15, 2026  •  2 minute read

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow is seen at an executive committee meeting on March 19, 2025. Photo by Jack Boland/Toronto Sun files

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow wants city council to spend another $10 million to speed up the process of building Scarborough’s long-awaited rapid transit line.

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The mayor, who issued a letter last week expressing that she was “fighting” for the Scarborough East transit line, said she will present a motion seeking the additional funding to the city’s executive committee on Wednesday.

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She also said she was looking to the province for support to speed up the planning and design of the project, “drawing on their learnings from provincially led transit expansion projects via Metrolinx.”

‘Tri-government’ funding being sought

In her April 9 letter addressed to the city’s executive committee, Chow recommended that city council establish the Scarborough East Rapid Transit (SERT) line as its top transit expansion priority and pushed for support in seeking “tri-government” funding with the provincial and federal governments.

“I’m doing this now because we have momentum,” she said at Wednesday’s news conference, per CityNews. “Last month, I secured $2 billion from the provincial and federal governments to build the Waterfront East LRT, matching the city’s one-third share.

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“Right now the other governments are listening. Now is the time to turn up the volume and make a deal for the Scarborough line.”

Last week, Chow and Councillor Brad Bradford — who had previously announced his intention to run for mayor in the fall — unveiled separate plans for the Scarborough transit line, also known as Line 7.

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The proposed — and long-delayed — 18.6-km LRT line would connect Kennedy Station to Malvern Town Centre with 27 stops.

At a news conference last Thursday, Bradford criticized Chow for missing a city council deadline to offer a report about the Scarborough line.

“The deadline set by city council in February 2025 for staff to report back … passed; no report was offered, no explanation, not even an acknowledgement,” Bradford said, according to a CTV News report.

He accused Chow of prioritizing the Waterfront East LRT at the expense of the Scarborough transit line.

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