Phil Verster resigning as head of Metrolinx, new interim CEO to take over as early as Dec. 16

Amid ongoing calls from Ontario opposition parties for a shake-up at Metrolinx, president and CEO Phil Verster has announced he is stepping down.

A statement issued by the Ontario government Monday afternoon said Verster told the Metrolinx board he accepted another position.

“I’m going to miss Phil. I haven’t held back. I’ve always been a fan of Phil. He had one of the largest transit projects in North America,” Premier Doug Ford told CityNews Monday afternoon while referencing his government’s transit expansion plan.

Michael Lindsay, the president and CEO of Infrastructure Ontario, has been named the interim head of Metrolinx. The statement said he would take over as interim president and CEO as early as Dec. 16. It added he would move over to Metrolinx on Dec. 9 to begin the transition process. The Metrolinx board will undertake a search for a permanent head of the organization.

“Mr. Lindsay has been given a clear mandate with opening Eglinton Crosstown as his top priority,” the statement said.

Verster and Metrolinx have been a lightning rod of criticism for multiple delays and issues plaguing the Eglinton Crosstown LRT project. There have been hundreds of deficiencies found and as CityNews first reported an entire station platform had to be rebuilt. A lack of transparency over the project has also been an ongoing issue, sparking calls for an inquiry.

On a smaller scale, questions have also been raised about delays facing the Finch West LRT project. The consortium building the line in northwest Toronto filed a lawsuit against the Ontario government earlier this year.

During a quarterly Metrolinx board meeting on Thursday, Verster was present. While giving his regular updates to the board, he alluded to a potential problem with another signature project. He said soil condition issues have “hampered” tunnelling on the Scarborough subway extension.

CityNews asked Ford about problems with projects under Metrolinx.

“On the Eglinton Crosstown, I have come out a hundred thousand times. We inherited a mess, it’s our issue and finally it’s complete. Now they’re training drivers and so on, so forth,” he said.

“But look at what he’s done in five years from basically a plan, an idea, into actually tunnelling Eglinton West ahead of schedule, on time, on budget, and then you have the Scarborough extension, and the Ontario Line and the Yonge extension not to mention all the GO Transit expansions as well.”

Ford said the province needs to move forward and praised Lindsay as “very competent.”

“I’m proud of the job that Metrolinx is doing and they’re doing a fine job, and they’re moving forward as quickly as possible to build transit that was ignored for decades from multiple governments,” he said.

Reaction to Verster’s departure was swift at Queen’s Park Monday afternoon.

“We have billions of dollars over budget on transit projects under Mr. Verster’s watch. We have the growth of executive vice-presidents at Metrolinx from 27 in 2018 to now 82, so much executive bloat at the top of this organization and so little being done,” Ontario NDP transit critic Joel Harden said.

“It was time for Mr. Verster to go.”

Harden said more responsibility for failings needs to be taken and hopes there will be “a new spirit of collaboration” while citing ongoing legal issues involving rapid transit projects.

“I have no concern in accountability and it was needed at Metrolinx for a long time,” he said.

“I believe in people who devote themselves to public service and I know there is someone, a qualified candidate, who can be the CEO at Metrolinx who can bring this organization into relevance and make sure we’re building transit, not just talking about it.”

With a focus on the Eglinton Crosstown, Harden also said now would be a time to call a judicial inquiry into the project amid ongoing issues with deficiencies and delays.

Ontario Liberal Party MPP John Fraser said he wasn’t surprised by the leadership change.

“The government hasn’t been able to deliver on the projects, someone has got to take the fall on that,” he told CityNews.

“Why did it take this long is the question, right? Ultimately the minister of transportation and the premier are accountable to making sure those things happen by making people accountable, and they haven’t done that yet.”

Aislinn Clancy, the deputy leader of the Green Party of Ontario, said in a statement that Verster’s departure “is an important first step” toward accountability on transit project delays.

“Under Phil Verster’s tenure, Metrolinx has made mistake after mistake and cost our province billions. His decade of delays has impacted millions of residents and businesses, whose tax dollars have been paying his million-dollar salary while LRT stations on Eglinton sit empty,” Monday afternoon.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow thanked Verster for his years of dedication while remaining hopeful that his replacement would help get stalled transit projects finished.

“The priority for the next CEO must be getting transit projects completed and open because we share the same goal: getting Toronto moving,” she posted on X.

Verster was appointed to the top job at Metrolinx in 2017 under the previous Liberal government and was re-appointed in April 2020 by the Ford government. He was re-appointed again on a three-year contract as of Oct. 2, 2023.

In 2023, he earned $838,097.41 plus $13,392.56 in taxable benefits.

Before joining the Ontario transportation agency, he served as an executive with Network Rail in the United Kingdom. Trained as an engineer in South Africa, Verster also had stints with Bombardier Rail, Southeastern Trains and Irish Rail.

Metrolinx is a sprawling provincial transportation agency. It runs GO Transit, UP Express and the Presto fare card system.

With files from Jamie Tumelty