5 Toronto issues to watch as Doug Ford becomes Ontario's premier

Doug Ford's Ontario PCs stormed to a majority victory in Thursday night's provincial election in part thanks to breaking through in Toronto's inner suburbs.

And Ford, a former city councillor and brother of the late mayor Rob Ford, may have big plans for this city.

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Ford made a number of promises for Toronto during his campaign and as premier will have a huge hand in a range of city issues — from transit to supervised injection sites to parks. While it's too soon to say exactly what his government will do, here are five things to keep an eye on.

Scarborough subway

Expect a return of the "Subways! Subways! Subways!" mantra – except this time it will be coming from Queen's Park.

Ford voiced his strong preference for subways in Toronto during the campaign. That includes going back to a three-stop subway extension to Scarborough, something the city has deemed too expensive.

The current one-stop plan is controversial enough, due to its price tag of $3.35 billion (an updated figure won't be released until after October's municipal election). How much more is Ford willing to spend?  

That's a big question because Ford also wants to build the downtown relief line, extend the Yonge and Sheppard lines and potentially "upload" the entire subway system to the province. It's hard to see how he'll be able to afford it all.

The future of light rail

The city is also prioritizing the construction of a number of light rail lines, including one to serve the East Bayfront, which is poised to experience dramatic growth in the coming years.

During elections you hear a lot of slogans, you hear a lot of proposals, and all of the proposals now need to be vetted.- Matti Siemiatycki, Ryerson University

Ford has said "transit will get built down there" but hasn't made a firm commitment to that project.

Meanwhile, some Etobicoke-area councillors who have been supporting Ford have been calling for the western section of the Eglinton Crosstown to go underground, which could add another cost.

Ryerson University's Matti Siemiatycki, who specializes in transportation planning, says it will likely take Ford's administration some time to figure out its plan.

"During elections you hear a lot of slogans, you hear a lot of proposals, and all of the proposals now need to be vetted," he said.

Supervised injection sites

Doug Ford doesn't like supervised injection sites.

Ford says he supports drug rehabilitation efforts instead of harm reduction, telling a crowd at one campaign stop: "if your son, daughter or loved one ever had an addiction, would you want them to go in a little area and do more drugs? I'm dead against that."

But that puts him at odds with the city, which has established four supervised injection sites in the downtown core with support from the outgoing Liberals. Supporters of the programs, including those who sprung into action to open an unsanctioned site in Moss Park, say they've saved hundreds of lives.

It's unclear if Ford will cut the funding the city is receiving for these services, or try to reroute that money.

Ontario Place's development

As a councillor, Ford pitched the idea of building a massive Ferris wheel on Toronto's Port Lands. He also wanted to see a casino on the Exhibition grounds.

Well, now Ford controls Ontario Place, a huge chunk of land on the city's western waterfront.

Kathleen Wynne's government built Trillium Park on part of the land, and announced plans to turn the rest of the space into a massive park called Celebration Common.

However, that work is set to take years, which could leave the door open to a new idea from Ford. For now, he's provided no indication this will happen.

Are road tolls officially a no-go?

Mayor John Tory was left fuming after Wynne's government shot down a proposal to toll the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway.

But city officials kept urging Tory to not let the idea die — even though the PCs, NDP and Liberals all publicly opposed the plan.

It seems highly unlikely Ford will pull a U-turn on this file and let the city charge drivers a fee in order to generate some transit cash.

So the question is whether or not he will keep giving the city millions of dollars in gas tax revenue (the city received $182 million last year) to make up for that move.

Ford has promised to do that, but he's also promised to cut gas prices for drivers by lowering provincial taxes, which could make that difficult.