Latest news with #HenryDundas
Toronto Star
15-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Star
The TTC's Dundas Station to be called TMU Station after board approves name change
The new TMU Station name was approved as part of a proposed partnership between the TTC and TMU. The cost of renaming the downtown station, previously pegged at $1.6 million, will be covered by the university and remove from the station the name of Henry Dundas — a Scottish parliamentarian implicated in Britain's slave trade to the Caribbean.
Toronto Sun
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
VUONG: Toronto has greater priorities than a woke name change
What deal is the TTC inking with TMU and why is it being hidden from Torontonians? The TTC subway at Dundas Station in Toronto, Thursday February 2, 2023. Photo by Peter J. Thompson / Postmedia There is no better indication of a government's true priorities than its budget and how it spends its money. Secondary to that are the issues it chooses to spend its time on. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account This is why the agenda for the Toronto city council board for the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is so concerning. You'd think the TTC Board has already created the world's greatest transit system, that our city's public transit must be so great, so reliable, and so safe, that they can focus on superfluous matters like changing the name of Dundas Station. Let us remember that this erasure of slavery abolitionist Henry Dundas is the result of a historically illiterate misinterpretation of his legacy. To Dundas' great misfortune, he has become a priority target of some keyboard historians of the woke variety, and, unfortunately, they are on a revisionist mission to denigrate the man. They accuse him of being an enabler of slavery despite the fact that it was Dundas who appointed John Graves Simcoe as Lieutenant Governor of then Upper Canada, who spearheaded legislation fighting slavery; and is the reason Canadians today can proudly claim credit as the first jurisdiction in the British Empire to pass the legislation to limit slavery in the British Empire. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Fast forward to the present. What legacy can this TTC Board lay claim to other than radical and ideologically-driven excess? After all, there is an opportunity cost to everything that we do. The time they waste deliberating this unnecessary subway station name change is time they won't spend discussing issues that actually impact riders, like commute time. Just months ago, a report from commuter app Moovit found that our city has one of the worst commutes in North America with Toronto clocking in at an average of 55 minutes to take transit through the city. It was further estimated that over the course of a Torontonian's lifetime we will spend nineteen months of our life on transit. Now, the TTC Board will tell you it's not costing taxpayers anything because Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) will cover the cost of the name change, but that's not true. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. How much TTC staff time has been squandered on this woke fool's errand? Time for legal to draft the confidential agreement that taxpayers won't see, time for the marketing department to plan a new name communications plan, and, of course, the time completely wasted by staff to support this wasteful name change in the first place. There are real costs associated with this change, including salary time, and, again, it's time not spent on improving our transit system. Read More And while we're on the topic of the confidential agreement to rename Dundas Station to 'TMU Station,' what are we, the Toronto taxpayer, getting out of it? This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Naming rights cost money. In the U.S., this tactic is used to net transit agencies some big dollars that they reinvest to improve service. For example, UC San Diego signed a 30-year deal with the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System to name a streetcar line after the university for US$30 million in 2015, which is $41.7 million at current exchange rates. How many buses could that purchase? How many more special constables could we deploy to keep riders safe? If you head north to Silicon Valley, the owners of Caltrain have been selling station naming rights for close to $1 million (C$1.3 million) to as much as $4.5 million ($6.2 million) annually, which begs the question: What deal is the TTC inking with TMU and why is it being hidden from Torontonians? Is TMU getting a sweetheart deal from the City? In the absence of facts, we have no choice but to speculate. The TTC Board is mandated to 'serve the people of Toronto by ensuring your transit system is reliable, safe, and prepared for the future.' They should explain how renaming a station helps to advance their mandate, and why it is of a greater priority than the reliability, safety, and preparedness of our transit system. — Kevin Vuong is a proud Torontonian, entrepreneur, and military reserve officer. He was the former Member of Parliament for Toronto's Spadina-Fort York community. Celebrity Columnists Sunshine Girls NHL Editorials
Toronto Star
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Star
City council board to consider renaming Dundas Station this week
The 'Dundas' name could be scrapped from TTC stations soon, as city council's TTC board considers a partnership with Toronto Metropolitan University to erase the name of Henry Dundas — a Scottish parliamentarian implicated in Britain's slave trade to the Caribbean — from the city's transit maps. The proposed partnership will go to the board on Wednesday, where city councillors will consider renaming the station to 'TMU Station.' The cost of renaming the station, which was previously pegged at $1.6 million, would be covered by the university.
Global News
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Global News
TTC considering renaming Dundas Subway Station after local university
Toronto's transit agency is considering plans to rename Dundas Subway Station after the nearby university, years after the city decided to rename the street and then paused the plan. A report to be considered by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) recommends approving a partnership with Toronto Metropolitan University to rename Dundas Subway Station. The station, located at Yonge and Dundas streets, is named after the former Henry Dundas, who was singled out for his role in delaying the abolition of the British salve trade. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Dundas, a key minister in the British government, amended a 1792 resolution to endorse gradual rather than immediate abolition of the slave trade. His name was on a list of several people removed from landmarks around Ontario after global anti-racism protests sparked by the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis. Story continues below advertisement The City of Toronto eventually paused the work to rebrand Dundas Street, named after the same man, but has removed his name from the city's central square and a library. Now, the city is considering greenlighting the renaming of Dundas Subway Station to be TMU Station. Putting the move in place now would save money, the report for the TTC suggested, by including the change in new signage being made for the as-yet-unscheduled opening of the Finch West LRT. 'There is a time-sensitive and unique opportunity to incorporate the new name at minimal incremental expense and without disruption to the customer experience, by aligning this station renaming with the roll-out of customer information changes for the new Line 6 Finch West,' the report said. 'Should the Board approve the recommendations below, work would begin immediately… Delaying this decision would result in incrementally higher costs in the future.'
