TTC chair Josh Colle calls together his predecessors with the question: How did we get here?
TTC chair Josh Colle is gathering the clan on Monday, inviting his predecessors, including his dad, Mike Colle, a Liberal MPP, to a brainstorming session at city hall.
Among the former Toronto Transit Commission chairs expected to attend are Brian Ashton, Paul Christie, Adam Giambrone, Lois Griffin, Jeff Lyons, Howard Moscoe and Karen Stintz.
Others, including his most recent forerunner, Councillor Maria Augimeri, were invited but couldn't make it. Augimeri had a conflict, according to Colle. Others, such as Betty Disero, who is now a councillor in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Toronto lawyer Julian Porter weren't able to attend.
"To be honest, some of them are hard to track down if you go beyond Porter into the early 1980s," said Colle, the councillor for Eglinton-Lawrence.
Colle, who was named TTC chair in December but served on the board during Stintz's tenure, said he's been doing the rounds, meeting transit experts, riders and other stakeholders.
Meeting with former chairs was a natural suggestion and when Christie, TTC chair from 1994 to 1998, suggested a lunch with both generations of Colle politicians, "I thought, why don't I just pull them altogether and pick their brains all at once," said the current TTC chair.
"I'm genuinely in the phase of still trying to talk to as many people as possible, not only about the role but about what we can do better, why things are the way they are and why they've evolved this way," he said.
Changes at the TTC suggest there's a conversation to be had about TTC governance, Colle added.
"So much of their planning function has gone to city planning and maybe to Metrolinx, capital expansion is (controlled) by the province and approval by city council. How has that happened, and is that where we should be as a transit operator," he said.
Asked if that's a good thing, Colle said he's not sure.
"I think there's maybe some clarity now, but I'm not necessarily sure that's the blueprint we should have. I have my theories about how things evolved, but I'd like to hear from people who were in my seat as it happened," he said.
Media are invited to attend the opening of the meeting for a few minutes, but the group will then meet privately.
Colle said he tried to gather as many of his predecessors as possible without regard for their other activities. Jeff Lyons, for example, chaired the TTC chair from 1987 to 1989, but was caught up in the city's MFP computer leasing scandal.
"I just wanted to extend the invite to every chair," said Colle.
