TORONTO, September 27, 2012 – Politicians, planners, transit chiefs and post-secondary leaders will meet at York University on Friday to discuss how to provide an efficient, comprehensive transit and transportation system for the more than 300,000 students, instructors and staff at post-secondary institutions in Southern Ontario.
The action-oriented Going to School forum on transit will call for sustained funding, construction and maintenance of a region-wide transportation system for Toronto and the Greater Golden Horseshoe.
York Faculty of Environmental Studies (FES) Professor Roger Keil, director of the City Institute at York University (CITY), will deliver opening remarks followed by a keynote address by City of Toronto Councillor Adam Vaughan. (10-10:45am)
Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance Chair John Tory, former leader of the Conservative Party of Ontario, will moderate a president’s panel of post-secondary leaders discussing transportation and transit challenges and priorities at their institutions. The panel includes:
- Mamdouh Shoukri, York University President & Vice-Chancellor
- Tim McTiernan, President of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning
- Chris Whittaker, President of the Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning
- Deanne Fisher, associate vice-president students at OCAD University
- Rob MacIssac, president of Mohawk College of Applied Arts & Technology
- David Agnew, president of Seneca College of Applied Arts & Technology
- Brad Chapman, chief financial officer & vice-president business development, Centennial College
- Franco Vaccarino, vice-president, University of Toronto and principal of University of Toronto Scarborough.
(10:45-11:45am)
City of Toronto chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat, a graduate of York’s Masters in Environmental Studies program, will moderate a discussion of how to improve transit-oriented development on and around campuses with Bryan Tuckey, president and CEO at the Building Industry & Land Development Association, Chris Wong, transportation and master planning director of York University Development Corporation, Marcy Burchfield, geomatics/research program manager, Neptis Foundation, and urban planning consultant Sean Hertel. (12-1pm)
Toronto Star urban affairs columnist Royson James will lead a discussion of how transit operators can serve and link learning institutions, with GO Transit president Gary McNeil, City of Toronto Councillor Karen Stintz, and York University student Michael Collens. (2-3pm)
Leslie Woo, Metrolinx vice-president, will talk with academics, including York Professor Laura Taylor, planning programs co-ordinator, Pierre Filion, associate director of the University of Waterloo’s planning program, and Zack Taylor of the University of Toronto’s Department of Geography, program in planning, about the future directions of discussions and how talk can be turned into action. Closing remarks will be delivered by Keil. (3-4pm)
The forum is organized by the City Institute at York University and Adam Vaughan with support from the Canadian Urban Institute and Spacing, and sponsored by Bombardier Transportation, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 and the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University.
WHAT: Going to School transit forum
WHEN: Fri., Sept. 28, 10am-4pm, Underground Restaurant, Student Centre, York University.
MAP: Building 23 on York’s Keele campus MAP
York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 55,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 250,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 11 Faculties and 28 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.
Media Contact:
Janice Walls, Media Relations, York University, 416 736 2100 x22101 / wallsj@yorku.ca
