Tonight’s Jackpot
$7,000,000
2 BROTHERS KILLED FAMILY DEVASTATED AFTER NORTH YORK SHOOTING {page 4}
REMIX CHRIS BROWN GETS
SLICE OF RIHANNA’S BIRTHDAY CAKE {page 19}
TORONTO
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 www.metronews.ca News worth sharing.
Under new management TARA WALTON/ TORSAR NEWS SERVICE
TTC chief general manager axed at meeting called by Rob Ford loyalists The city’s clouded transit vision has become even murkier in the wake of the politically motivated firing Tuesday of TTC chief general manager Gary Webster. It came the same day the premier signalled his growing impatience with the mayor’s machinations around transit. Webster, whose dismissal was engineered behind closed doors by Mayor Rob Ford’s loyalists on the Toronto Transit Commission, will be replaced in the short term by Andy Byford, who came here from Australia as TTC chief operating officer only three months ago. Asked if Webster’s immediate departure will stall city council’s plan to build above-ground light rail, Byford admitted he didn’t know. “Clearly that needs to be addressed over the next few days. There’s a lot of things for me to think about. My first priority, though, will be performance, customer service and safety. I want to make sure we’re getting the basics right before we open up any other debates,” he said. Webster was fired for failing
‘Running out of patience’ Expressing exasperation with Ford’s manoeuvring on the TTC, Premier Dalton McGuinty warned Tuesday that “the time for talk is coming close to an end.” “I can say that we’re running out of patience,” McGuinty said. “The people of Toronto are running out of patience.”
to help the mayor build a case for a subway extension on Sheppard and a longer tunnel on the east end of the Eglinton LRT. Byford was hired as a possible successor to Webster, who has worked at the TTC for about 37 years and earned more than $282,000 annually in 2010. Webster will remain on the TTC payroll until after his contract expires in July 2013. The commission exercised a provision in Webster’s contract that allows for his termination without just cause, said TTC chair Karen Stintz.
Gary Webster sits in a committee room at Toronto City Hall Tuesday before the 2 p.m. meeting at which he was fired went in-camera. The meeting was called by allies of Mayor Rob Ford and had only one item on the agenda — a vote to buy out Webster’s contract and dismiss him.
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