We don’t deserve this #MimicoGOFiasco

Tyler Cheese, CBC News Toronto, ~2 min

What was promised — and what’s planned

Metrolinx confirmed the scope of the Project: a new east connection with elevator and stair access, a new south entrance at Manchester and Blue Goose with elevator and stair access, tactile platform-edge indicators, and platform upgrades. Delivery model is Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) — Graham as construction manager, AECOM as designer.

The project remains at 60% to 90% of the design phase, which will be followed by a negotiated cost estimate, then construction. When we asked directly — when will there be barrier-free access to the platforms? — the answer given was a process, not a date.

The slides shown by Metrolinx

The bridge design shown at the Metrolinx Accessibility Meeting in May but not at the Mimico Transit Forum

In the Metrolinx Accessibility Meeting (May 13, 2026) we were shown the following rendering. It’s obviously not a tunnel. In 2025 the Province awarded a contract to design a tunnel but instead, a year later, we are shown a design for a bridge, a concept from 2011.

• A bridge over electrified tracks means 2-5 flights of stairs up and over the overhead wires and back down to the platform. The tunnel didn’t need much of a ramp as the south side of the rail corridor is already below the railway tracks and from below you need much shorter stairs and elevators to the platforms. Fewer stairs are great when the elevator is broken or too busy at rush hour.
• The original 2016 tunnel plan wasn’t just about reaching the platform — it was meant to be an alternative crossing of the rail corridor as well to unify Mimico, creating a connection for the thousands of new residents in the triangle to reach our waterfront.
• We asked: Will this newly proposed bridge be inside a fare-paid zone, or open to anyone who needs to cross the tracks? We will let you know if / when we get an answer.

What Metrolinx did not commit to

• No accessibility timeline. When pressed, Metrolinx said clearer timelines will only come “at later phases of the design.”
• No community input before the design is finalized. The Construction Liaison Committee — the channel for community representatives to sit in with the delivery team — only starts “once we are starting construction.” Not at 60%. Not at 90%. After.
• No commitment to a pre-construction open house. Metrolinx said an open house would happen “when we are on the cusp of starting construction” — again, after the design decisions are locked in.
• No commitment to publish the accessibility advice they have already received. David Lepofsky’s direct ask — publish what your own accessibility consultants have told you — got referred to the published general standards, not the project-specific advice. He flagged the gap immediately.

Voices from the room

A lifelong Mimico resident who had a stroke years ago told the room she cannot use her own station anymore: too many stairs, no elevator, no accessibility.

David Lepofsky named the problem bluntly: in 2005, every party in the Legislature unanimously passed a law saying Ontario, including transit, would be accessible by 2025. We are in 2026, at 60% design. His tactical gift to us: the hashtag #MimicoGOFiasco. His podcast, Disability Rights and Wrongs, is on Spotify and Apple Music. Recommended.

The safety question. Letters to the Metrolinx Board

There is a second question this Forum surfaced, separate from the accessibility timeline: was Mimico GO safe to operate during the recent drainage work?

From April 21 to May 30, 2026, five weeks, the single pedestrian tunnel (the only way on and off every platform, with stairs) was squeezed to about one metre of effective width between construction hoarding and an advertising lightbox. Residents reported waiting 10 minutes or more after train arrivals before they could exit the platform, almost every weekday or after sport events downtown.

On June 9, the MRA wrote to the Metrolinx Board with formal questions regarding safety for their June public Board meeting.

We sent a companion letter the same day asking the Metrolinx Board the accessibility timeline question — and asking what risk assessment was done before the Board endorsed the VANDYK partnership in 2018 (the second project at 327 Royal York to end in receivership), what new partner-vetting processes are now in place, and whether Metrolinx will seek reimbursement from 327 Royal York’s owners for the 2024 WSP geotechnical study and the ongoing Geotechnical Instrumentation and Monitoring Program.

We have asked for written answers on the record at, or before, the June 2026 public Board meeting. We will publish whatever we receive.

What our elected officials said

MPP Lee Fairclough confirmed Mimico is one of the last two inaccessible stations on the GO network – both in our riding – and that her very first letter to any minister after being sworn in last year was on this issue. She raised it again in Question Period the same day, hours before the Premier prorogued Queen’s Park for five months. She told the room plainly that she is disappointed Metrolinx will not create a community liaison group until construction begins, and that she will push to change that.

Councillor Amber Morley reminded us that two prior developers at 327 Royal York went into receivership while on the hook to deliver Mimico GO upgrades and that the current approved housing proposal on that site has nothing to do with Metrolinx. Her motion at City Council asks Infrastructure Ontario and Metrolinx to report back on Mimico GO, on Park Lawn GO, and on the risk-assessment practices behind these public-private deals (TOC).

What you can do in 30 seconds – Two clicks

The button below opens an email to the Minister of Transportation, copied to us, MPP Fairclough, Councillor Morley, Metrolinx’s Toronto West Community Engagement team, and the Metrolinx CEO.

Edit as you see fit, add your name, postal code, and send.

📨 Email the Minister →

If your phone or browser does not open the email, the addresses are: minister.mto@ontario.ca, prabmeet.sarkaria@pc.ola.org; cc info@mimicoresidents.ca, lfairclough.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org, councillor_morley@toronto.ca, TorontoWest@metrolinx.com, ceo@metrolinx.com

Tell your neighbours. Here is a message we have been cc’d on already. From a letter sent to Metrolinx this week by a 19-year Mimico resident and regular GO rider:

“During peak hours the platform and stairways become extremely crowded, creating conditions that feel genuinely dangerous. A single entry and exit point is simply inadequate for the volume of passengers using this station, and a second exit is badly needed. These issues are interconnected — a modernized station that addresses accessibility must also address capacity and safety.”

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Full Recording

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Have a nice day, Mimico!