Mississauga mayoral candidate Bonnie Crombie is laying out exactly how she plans to bring a subway extension to the city if elected. In a seven-point plan released Tuesday, Crombie detailed the next steps of her “Mississauga Moves 2.0” transit plan, which she teased on the campaign trail last month. Her proposed plan would extend the Toronto Transit Commission’s (TTC) Line 2 west from Kipling Station, through Sherway Gardens, and into Mississauga’s city centre near the Square One Shopping Centre. In her first 100 days in office, Crombie says she would meet with officials from the Ontario government, Metrolinx (the Crown transportation corporation), the City of Toronto and the TTC to advance a joint business case for extending the line. She said those meetings will seek agreement on the study’s scope, leadership, funding and delivery schedule. She’ll also meet with representatives in Ottawa to seek support for the planning work and establish a “path towards federal participation in funding the project.” At the same, Crombie said she’ll put forward a motion asking city council to initiate Mississauga’s participation in the business case, while directing staff to negotiate necessary partnership agreements and identify funding for the city’s share of the planning work. Within her first year in office, Crombie said, she would seek a formal partnership agreement and launch the jointly funded study of the project. Within two years, she would target completion of the initial business case and bring its findings and recommended next steps before council. Working with partners to finalize a preferred route and delivery approach, while advancing design, environment work, and funding negotiations would occupy the remainder of her four-year term, she said. “There is an appetite for this, and I haven’t heard a negative word from the province, so we are going to proceed full ahead,” Crombie said at a news conference Monday. The full cost of the project is unclear, but Crombie said she has spoken with transit engineers who think the price could be “much, much lower” than $1 billion per kilometre, unlike the under construction Ontario Line, “I’m hearing the number of $700 million (per kilometre), but this will be examined in the business case. That’s why we are moving forward with a feasibility study to examine the routes, the cost, the ridership, etc.” Other pillars of the plan include examining elevated construction of the subway extension where appropriate and aligning construction around a central hub that connects to existing and future transit projects. The city does not currently have a subway system, although the idea has long been debated. Commuters who use public transit rely on the MiWay bus system and GO Transit to get around. The Hazel McCallion LRT line (named after the former Mississauga mayor) was scheduled to open in 2024, but opening has since been pushed back. Crombie is also calling for the line to open to passengers “no later than” by Dec. 31, 2028 as part of her mayoral campaign. Crombie’s mayoral run follows her departure from provincial politics, where she served as the leader of the Ontario Liberal Party from 2023 to 2026. She led the party through the 2025 provincial election and helped the Liberals regain official party status. Crombie failed to win a seat at Queen’s Park and resigned her leadership role earlier this year. She previously served three consecutive terms as Mississauga’s mayor from 2014 to 2024. CTV News has reached out to mayoral opponent Carolyn Parrish for comment on Crombie’s plan. Bradford pledges to get rid of TTC slow zones In Toronto, mayoral candidate Brad Bradford announced he would do away with reduced speed zones on the TTC if elected. He said the TTC aims to cap its so-called slow zones -- which see trains travel at speeds as slow as 15 km/h while track maintenance and upgrades are completed – at 12. “A target of a dozen gets you a dozen. That’s what we have right now. Actually, we have 13 right now, but you get the point,” he said. “So, as mayor, I am going to set the target at zero. I am going to raise our standards, and I am going to hold the city and the TTC to account. Within his first 100 days in office, Bradford said any designated reduced speed zone would need to be paired with a published reason for the slowdown and a published repair date. As well, he said he would publish a monthly slow zone report, which showcases the number of slow zones, how long each has been in place, and the total hours riders have lost to them, by line. His announcement also included an order to conduct an independent track condition audit, the launch of a subway track renewal program, and an overhaul of the TTC’s work car fleet. Asked how he plans to pay for the promises, Bradford said part of the funds will come from partnerships with the provincial and federal governments, and part will be paid for through long-term, low-interest financing over the cycle of the assets. “The exact breakdown of that will depend once we get in there and we start going through all the different projects,” he said. In a statement, Olivia Chow accused Bradford of supporting budgets that didn’t adequately invest in TTC maintenance while he sat on the TTC board. “As I’ve said, even one slow zone is too many and I will eliminate them,” Chow said in a statement. “We have made record investments in the TTC to make up for many years of cuts to maintenance under Bradford’s time on the TTC board. Bradford helped create the maintenance challenges the TTC is fixing now. Of course we must do more, I will keep working to make critical repairs to our aging transit system so it can serve people for decades to come.” In response to those comments, Bradford’s team said they “can’t find the evidence” that Chow has ever said that she would eliminate slow zones. “But it’s not surprising that NDP Mayor Olivia Chow wants credit for caring about slow zones after three years and three budgets of doing nothing about them. The TTC imposed 296 slow zones under her watch, hit 34 at once in the summer of 2024, and still has about a dozen today,” a spokesperson told CTV News in an email. Election day is Oct. 26.
