Why is Metrolinx cutting the number of public board meetings in half?

Provincial transit agency Metrolinx is facing accusations it's becoming less transparent after its board opted to cut the number of public meetings it holds. Back in 2025, there were four Metrolinx board meetings held in public, offering updates on construction projects, costs, and other insights into the workings of a government body that moves millions of commuters and builds multi-billion dollar projects. But Metrolinx confirmed in a statement to CBC News those meetings are being scaled back. There will be just two next year, while an upcoming meeting in November has been axed. Public money should mean more public meetings and not less. They have a pattern for years now that they've been conducting most of their meetings behind closed doors. They have not been transparent as an organization. They're perhaps one of one of the least transparent that this government has, and that's saying a lot. Metrolinx plays a major role in the City of Toronto, where it's leading construction of the Ontario Line, the Eglinton Crosstown West LRT and the Scarborough Subway Extension, all projects that will add to the city's municipally run transit system and are currently causing construction throughout downtown. The next couple of years will be disruptive. You will see a lot of bad construction. You go down Bay Street right now, you'll see Queen Street is blocked off for the Ontario Line construction. Outgoing Councillor Paula Fletcher represents a ward where residents are already feeling the effects of that Ontario Line construction. She's frustrated by how the system works now, and worries how the public will hold Metrolinx to account in the future. In fact, you can't even go and make a deputation to that board with your thoughts about the Ontario Line or any other thing that's happening. So, Two meetings a year, if that's what it ends up being, it's just perfunctory. Metrolinx's move comes as the Ford government looks to take some of its powers away. Omnibus legislation tabled in October proposes reducing some of its planning authority to avoid duplication with the Ministry of Transport. That's another move that has critics worrying about transparency. Isaac Callan, CBC News, Toronto.