Mississauga councillors push for LRT loop as Metrolinx says line will be ready by end of 2024

Just three years since construction began on the Hurontario light-rail transit line, the provincial transit agency says the 18-kilometre route connecting Mississauga to Brampton will be ready by the end of next year — but Mississauga councillors are pushing for it to be expanded further. 

Renamed the Hazel McCallion Line last year, the line is set to have 19 stops and offer connections to multiple other transit routes.

But calls are growing for the province to fund a downtown loop that would connect Square One, city hall and a large swath of the downtown — a high-density area with dozens of residential towers.

"It's time right now to add the loop back in, as the project is progressing and while shovels are in the ground," said Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie.

It's not the first time the route has been suggested. A downtown loop was nixed from the final plan before construction began. 

Crombie says there are about 25 towers downtown today, but the city will see an another 25 towers in the next five years. On top of that, she says, the downtown population is expected to double in Mississauga in the next 20 years.

At a news conference naming the line in February 2022, Premier Doug Ford that his goal was for the province to support adding a loop "eventually, sooner than later," but was vague on details. 

Asked for an update this week, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation did not provide a clear commitment on the loop. 

"We will continue to consider all requests, including the Mississauga City Centre transit loop, as we have throughout the planning and procurement phases of the project," the ministry told CBC News in a statement.

But Crombie said she's taking Ford's words last year as a verbal commitment.

"Now is the right time," she said.

Coun. Dipika Damerla agrees.

Damerla, who represents Ward 7 downtown, says there is unlimited height and density in the area, with several existing and future towers more than 60 storeys tall, she said.

Councillors made decisions to allow unlimited heights assuming the loop would occur, she added.