The Hurontario LRT was supposed to open in 2022; after resolving lawsuits & splitting contract in two Metrolinx won’t say when project will be done

The degree of commuter frustration in Mississauga currently increases proportionally as the distance travelled north extends along the construction of the city’s out of reach light rail transit project known as the Hurontario LRT.

For almost a decade residents and business owners have watched the chaos slowly climb up from Mississauga’s lakeshore on the city’s central corridor. Construction for the project has been repeatedly delayed, lawsuits were filed and the patience of commuters now stuck in the sweltering summer heat has evaporated.

The Ontario government first announced the project would be completed in 2022 and the timing was widely reported to an expectant public.

Then many were first disappointed when that timeline was shifted and the opening of the Hurontario LRT was quietly pushed to 2024.

As the main thoroughfare, which runs the entire south to north length of the city and also serves as the central connection point for east to west travel, remained torn apart, the date for completion was eventually pushed to 2028.

Delayed construction along Hurontario Street which runs down the middle of Mississauga.

(Alexis Wright/The Pointer)

But now, a timeline has all but disappeared, as the degree of frustration among local residents, commuters and business owners has gone past the mercury’s highest point, boiling even beyond the recent heat-dome temperatures experienced across the city.

At a town hall meeting two weeks ago, officials with the province’s transit agency, Metrolinx, admitted there is no completion date for the project anymore. It will be done… when it’s done.

The virtual gathering on June 25 was a chance for residents to ask questions and voice their mounting anger, as Metrolinx has once again backpedaled from its latest promised completion date of 2028.

Promising Mississauga councillors they would come back to provide updates on the construction of the project to city staff and residents in May, officials of provincial transit agency Metrolinx, instead held a closed-door progress meeting with city officials in late April followed by a public virtual open house on June 25, a month after their promised meeting date.

“We're excited to share that construction activities across the corridor have recently accelerated, with a focus on completing the project as efficiently as possible,” Metrolinx Community Engagement Manager for the Hurontario LRT, Zeelaf Fatima, told those who joined.

Metrolinx Vice President of the project (officially known as the Hazel McCallion Line), Mashrab Abdul Qayom, also tried to reassure the impatient online audience.

“The delays in this project largely have been driven by complex utility relocation, maintaining traffic in a busy corridor,” he claimed, failing to mention a grinding lawsuit that saw construction slow down about two years ago, or the recent Metrolinx decision to split the original construction contract in two, to help resolve the legal battles. “Of course, the pandemic related labour and supply chain impacts and coordination of major crossings” also contributed to the constantly extending timeline, he said.

During the meeting, residents were repeatedly encouraged and told to submit questions to Metrolinx’s virtual event page, where they could additionally vote on questions already posed that they wanted to see answered. 

There was only one that everyone demanded a response to: when will the construction be completed?

Qayom said that while heavy progress has been made, only when the major work is completed and testing can take place, will Metrolinx be able to provide an opening date.

“That testing commissioning phase is the phase that will dictate that. So once the project enters that testing commissioning phase, we will have a better answer and be in a better position to provide a tentative opening date.”

Ward 7 Councillor Dipika Damerla, who had demanded a full public meeting with Metrolinx, told The Pointer the non-answers were incredibly frustrating.

“The questions that residents wanted to understand, wanted addressed, that did not happen. I've been fighting for a town hall for a long time, and finally when they held one, it was sort of a virtual town hall. Everybody was muted. It was not the finest display of democracy.”

“I couldn't even respond to any questions that maybe as a councillor I could have. It wasn't what I had envisioned. I really hoped for a public town hall. Let people come, let people talk, let people see you—do it in person.”

She was especially disappointed that no date was given when residents repeatedly asked Metrolinx officials for a firm completion date.

“Nobody knows when it's going to be completed. It's well past the time and nobody knows when it's going to be completed,” she said.

It was a departure from what Metrolinx told Damerla and the rest of Mississauga Council in February, when the public was assured the LRT would open in 2028.

On the same day as the recent town hall, at Metrolinx’s latest board of director’s meeting also held on June 25, information was provided that repeated the 2028 opening date. 

A screengrab of a presentation at the July 25 Metrolinx board of director’s meeting shows the Hurontario LRT is still planned to open in 2028, but that’s not what officials told Mississauga residents on the same day.

(Metrolinx)

The presentation at the board of director’s meeting also detailed the scrapping of the original P3 construction contract, which Metrolinx has now replaced with two separate contracts: an “Alliance” agreement for the design and construction of the LRT infrastructure; and a “parallel” deal for the operation and maintenance of the LRT over 30 years.

Metrolinx has ditched the controversial P3 partnership which would have made it more difficult for the government to prevent costly overruns, in favour of the new contract structure which also resolved lawsuits that had been filed against the construction consortium, Mobilinx, that was awarded the job for $4.6 billion. 

The price tag has since gone up dramatically, to at least $5.5 billion. And Mississauga was told in late 2024 by the PC government that it would be responsible for an additional $1 billion over 30 years for the maintenance and operation of the LRT.

A planned downtown loop was also removed from the route due to the escalating costs and the PCs have been inconsistent in communicating with City officials about the future of the additional three-stop section.

While the town hall/open house two weeks ago was just over an hour long, more than 60 questions were submitted. Metrolinx only answered 14 of them. 

When pressed for details to explain the delays and work stoppages, and why residents should believe construction will finally pick up steam, Metrolinx officials avoided any mention of a completion date, while repeating that challenges caused by utility relocation and compounding issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic were the main drivers of delays.

(X)

Mayor Carolyn Parrish did not respond to questions about Metrolinx no longer maintaining its 2028 commitment, but called the project “an incredible mess” last September.

The high-order transit spine will connect major transit terminals including the Port Credit GO Station, Cooksville GO Station and the Square One Go Bus Terminal, all the way up to Brampton Gateway Terminal at Steeles Avenue. Once completed, the project will span 18 kilometres with 19 stops on a dedicated right of way.

Originally included in the 18-kilometre track, was a 2-kilometre downtown loop linking MiWay bus routes around Square One in Mississauga’s city centre. Premier Doug Ford first slashed the loop in 2019 as part of a cost-cutting budget. In 2022, he later changed his direction and declared he would “make it happen sooner or later” ahead of the provincial election that year. No firm commitment with an approved budget line item for the loop has been seen since.

Ahead of this fall’s municipal election, Parrish has played up Ford’s promise while admitting the downtown loop has not been costed or put into a provincial budget.

A post on X by Mayor Carolyn Parrish in early February, praising Premier Doug Ford’s claimed commitment to the downtown LRT loop.

(Carolyn Parrish/X)

In an email to The Pointer, Metrolinx said the planning and design work for the downtown loop extension is ongoing, and there will be continuous community engagement opportunities.

Mobilinx, the construction consortium, and Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency, did not provide construction details or any dates for future public engagements.

Top: The original map showcasing the Hurontario LRT including the downtown loop. Bottom: The current Hurontario LRT map published on the City of Mississauga website.

 (Metrolinx)

Councillor Damerla criticized Metrolinx’s lack of communication with residents and businesses, calling for better transparency.  

In a joint-release from the Cooksville BIA and Damerla’s office, they criticized Metrolinx after the announcement of a phased closure of the Hurontario Street and Dundas Street intersection that began on June 11 to install LRT tracks. While the work itself had long been anticipated, the Cooksville BIA said businesses received only a few days' notice despite previous commitments that roughly two weeks' notice would be provided. The organization called the late warning a “failure to respect the businesses and property owners who have been carrying the burden of construction impacts for years.” 

“I am disappointed at the lack of consideration and respect for local business,” Damerla said. “This level of closure merits reasonable notice period to businesses and residents, and extra efforts to work with the local community. Given the magnitude of the closure and the fact that this intersection has been the site of almost nonstop construction and closure of some kind for the past four years.”

“I trust that Metrolinx will recognize the huge disruption to local business and treat them as valued stakeholders,” Damerla added.

Fatima said Metrolinx aims to provide two weeks notice, but claimed the timing depends on when the project team receives approvals.

"We remain in regular contact with the Cooksville BIA and the local community, sharing construction updates as soon as they have been confirmed by our project partners. We always do aim to deliver two weeks notice. However, a lot of it depends on how soon we can get confirmations from our project partners and when we receive permit approvals."

The full closure of the intersection, one of the busiest in Mississauga, lasted five days, from June 11 and re-opened on June 16, earlier than originally anticipated after crews completed the track installation work ahead of their original schedule.

The construction along Hurontario has presented numerous challenges for business owners. One said during the town hall that he saw a 40 percent drop in sales as his once beloved customers could no longer navigate the maze around the Hurontario/Dundas intersection. Another said she closed down her business for good after 30 years when her plaza was barricaded from the construction. 

Ward 5 Councillor Natalie Hart, who represents the area around the Bristol Road and Hurontario Street intersection, noted that two hotels in her ward have seen significant financial impacts, with one suffering revenue losses of more than 50 percent.

Businesses impacted can file a claim for financial compensation with Metrolinx, but the process was criticized for its lengthy delays. Metrolinx addressed this during the open house, offering few specifics about how future claims would be properly dealt with. 

Mobilinx previously faced legal disputes related to the Hurontario LRT project. In late 2023, Barricade Traffic & Services filed a lawsuit against the consortium, alleging it was owed $300,000 for its traffic control equipment that was used and returned without payment. The same year, Mobilinx was bogged down in a similar legal battle with rental equipment supplier Edge1.

As part of its regular project updates, Metrolinx disclosed at the recent board meeting that the more than $5 billion project had been rewritten and split into two parts. 

Although P3, public private partnership contracts are supposed to protect taxpayers, recent Ontario transit projects have been plagued by delays and convoluted legal challenges over who is to blame.

As a result of the continuous delays that have prolonged the LRT project, a credit report by S&P released in February 2025, downgraded Mobilinx’s Hurontario operation again, from a poor credit rating of BBB to BBB-, the lowest of five categories in the rating agency’s “Investment Grade” classification (AAA, AA, A, BBB, BBB-).

The downgrade meant, according to S&P’s subjective analysis, that the Hurontario LRT project is now considered the “lowest investment-grade by market participants”, meaning it poses significant risk to any investment or construction entity involved with its financing.

Metrolinx Construction Director Eric Chiasson told those who participated in the July 25 open house that “hopefully later this year, you’ll start seeing some trains coming out from the maintenance facility,” as the project begins preparing for its testing and commissioning phase.

Metrolinx described the project as entering a “critical year” with construction shifting from heavy civil works to electrical systems installation and testing preparations. Officials discussed how they have begun testing on one of the LRT trains.

But one question remained top of mind: when will the project be done?

Damerla told The Pointer she was not happy with what she witnessed at the open house town hall.

“I was very disappointed with the town hall. It didn't answer the real questions of residents, and it wasn't interactive, it just felt like a one-way communication. It wasn't very helpful.”

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