The National Post series Streetcarnage addresses publically for the first time in a long time the odd attachment the City of Toronto has for what was once known as the “street railway.” Streetcars are long gone from Canadian cities although Hamilton retains a charming bit of nostalgia in the 19th century name of its transit system — the Hamilton Street Railway or HSR. How did Toronto become the eternal home of these enormous, unpredictable and road-hogging vehicles? The event is traceable to the efforts in 1972 of what the Post calls “a core of leftist public transit activists through a group called Streetcars for Toronto.” Its backers included public transit advocate Steve Munro and William Kilbourn, a Rosedale historian says Terrance Corcoran in the linked article. As is frequently the case at City Hall, no one was looking when this happened, much as no one was looking when the 21st Century streetcar cataclysm known as the St. Clair Ave. W. right-of-way occurred. In this instance, advocates of the streetcar like former TTC Chief Adam Giambone rammed through a monstrous obstruction to traffic and business Nothing mattered but the care and feeding of the trolley. Terrance Corcoran
