Ontario Transit Funding Forum
Toronto Metropolitan University - Ted Rogers School of Management
September 22, 2025 - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Speakers
(In order of appearance)
Matthias Sweet
TransForm Lab, School of Urban and Regional Planning, Toronto Metropolitan University
Matthias Sweet is an Associate Professor and Associate Director of the Undergraduate Programs in the School of Urban & Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University. He is also the Co-Director of the Transportation and Urban Form Research Laboratory (TransForm Lab), where he and his students do basic and applied research related to transportation planning. His research interests are related to transportation policy, travel behaviour, land use planning, and urban economics. In previous work, he has investigated the role of transportation services in transportation-land use interactions, regional spatial structure and change, firm location decisions, travel behaviour and services, and regional economic growth and restructuring. Currently, he is working on projects related to transportation finance and funding, sustainable mobility, and emerging mobility technologies.
Marvin Alfred
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113
Marvin Alfred is President of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 113, representing nearly 12,500 transit workers at the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). He is working to make the union stronger and give transit workers a voice on the issues that face Toronto and its public transit system, including improvements to safety, service and sustainable funding for better transit for all. Marvin began his career at the TTC as an operator in 2001 and entered union leadership in 2010 getting his start as a shop steward for the Arrow Road Bus Division. He was elected to the Local’s Executive Board in 2016, became President in 2022 and was re-elected to serve a second term in 2025. He has revitalized the Local’s engagement with members and the public through advocacy, political action and community outreach – mobilizing rallies and campaigns to press government at all levels to restore investment in maintaining and operating public transit. Marvin joined the ATU International Latino Caucus in 2018 as the Canadian representative and continues his work to remove barriers to building a more inclusive and diverse union and workplace.
Robert Martin
Mainstreet Research
Robert Martin is a Senior Data Analyst at Mainstreet Research. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Biochemistry and a Master’s Degree in Biology (BioInformatics) from Brock University. He works at designing surveys, focusing on how the public perceives politics and the world around them, and how that impacts their vote intention in upcoming election. He also specializes in modeling those electoral outcomes, using demographic data to find insights into how the electoral map changes between elections.
Karen Cameron
Ontario Public Transit Association
Karen Cameron, CEO of the Ontario Public Transit Association (OPTA) has over 30 years of progressively responsible governance, policy development, issue management, regulatory, procurement and advocacy experience in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. She has led trade associations in the transit, taxi, school bus and motor coach industries, and has been with OPTA since 2015. Karen holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in public administration and economics as well as a Management Certificate from the University of Calgary.
Kim Earls
South Central Ontario Region Economic Development Corporation
Kim is the Executive Director of the South Central Ontario Region Economic Development Corporation, a municipally owned organization dedicated to advancing regional growth and competitiveness. With more than 15 years of experience in economic development, she has led large-scale initiatives that focus on the infrastructure and partnerships required to ensure South Central Ontario remains competitive. A business owner as well as a public sector leader, Kim has been a champion of integrated transportation and led a team in the creation of the Southwest Community Transit network, a collaboration of nine municipal transit providers serving a population of more than two million people. In addition to executive leadership, she teaches part-time at Fanshawe College and brings expertise in regional economic strategy, infrastructure investment, and relationship building across sectors. Kim holds a Master of Public Administration from Western University and is recognized for fostering collaboration to drive sustainable economic and development across communities.
David Cooper
Leading Mobility Consulting
David Cooper is the founder and principal of Leading Mobility Consulting, a transportation planning firm that offers strategic and planning support for public transit, infrastructure delivery, stakeholder support, and government relations projects and initiatives. Over the past 15 years, he has contributed to numerous transformative transportation initiatives across Canada, including
planning the Ontario Line Subway and King Street Pilot in Toronto; procurement support for the Broadway Subway Project and development of TransLink’s Battery-Electric bus program in Vancouver; implementation of LRT/BRT expansion and regional transit in Calgary. David has authored several important reports, including “This is the End of the Line: Reconstructing Transit Operating Funding” in 2024 and the Canadian Urban Transit Association’s COVID-19 National Recovery Strategy in 2021. As an adjunct faculty member at the University of Calgary, University of Toronto, and Toronto Metropolitan University, he instructs future planners on transportation policy, planning processes, and public consultation. David was the recipient of the ‘President’s Award for Young Planner of the Year’ granted by the Canadian Institute of Planners, the ‘Individual Leadership Award’ from the Canadian Urban Transit Association, and received Mass Transit’s ‘Top 40 Under 40 Award’ in North America. He holds a Bachelor and Masters in planning from Toronto Metropolitan University.
Becca Nagorsky
HDR
Becca Nagorsky, HDR’s global Transit Planning Practice Leader, is an urban and transit planning professional with more than 17 years of experience in the field. At HDR, Becca has a dual role providing leading-edge transit planning service to clients around the world and growing capacity for transit planning work through team-building and staff development. Before joining HDR, Becca spent 13 years in the Planning Division at Metrolinx, most recently as the VP of Stations Planning. At Metrolinx, Becca led projects spanning from writing the business case for the Ontario Line, to a station access strategy to improve multi-modal trip-making, to long-range transit network planning. In 2022-23, Becca served as the Planner in Residence at the University of Waterloo, where she taught an undergraduate course on Wicked Problems in Transportation Planning. Prior to her time in Toronto, Becca worked as a Transit Planner in Jerusalem on a redesign of the bus network to support implementation of the city’s first LRT line. Becca holds a Master of Urban Planning from New York University and a BA from McGill University.
Andrew McCurran
TransLink
Andrew McCurran is Director of Strategic Planning & Policy at TransLink, the regional transportation authority for Metro Vancouver, where he has worked for 17 years. He leads teams responsible for: developing the region’s long-term transportation strategy and key policy direction; supporting complex decision-making processes; leading TransLink’s 10-year Investment Plans and associated funding strategy; and prototyping and piloting new transportation technologies and business models especially related to the convergence of automation, digital connectivity, electrification, and shared mobility. Andrew’s previous roles at TransLink included work on streets planning, bicycle planning, transit facility design, and transit-oriented community planning. He holds a Masters Degree in Planning from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Arts and Science (Honours) Degree from McMaster University.
Ludwig Desjardins
Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain
Ludwig Desjardins is the Executive Director of Development and Performance at Montreal’s Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM). Working in the field of public transportation for over 15 years, he has held various positions at ARTM, the Agence métropolitaine de transport and exo, where he was Senior Director of Corporate Strategy within the senior management team. His diverse experience is the result of involvement in various major projects in strategic planning, financing, major project studies and project portfolio management. Actively involved in the public transportation sector, he is active within the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) and was the recipient of the Guy-Paré Prize in recognition of his involvement in the Association québécoise des transports (AQTr). He holds a PhD in Planning and Transportation, completed jointly at the Université de Montréal and the École des ponts et chaussées de Paris.
Tamim Raad
Access Planning
Tamim brings 25 years of visionary leadership in regional planning, with a proven track record of results in tackling the toughest of urban transportation problems. He has overseen the development of complex integrated regional transit plans, policies and implementation frameworks, transit megaproject development form concept to delivery, operational and service restructuring and the creation of new regional transport governance and funding models in legislatively muddled multi-jurisdiction contexts in Toronto, San Francisco, Montreal, Edmonton, and Vancouver. He excels at convening political actors, executives and other stakeholder groups to address complex and highly contested policy and infrastructure initiatives through collaborative, interest-based engagements. In 2015, he co-founded Access Planning, now part of Nelson\Nygaard Canada. Before starting Access, Tamim provided senior leadership at TransLink for 16 years, including as Director of Strategic Planning and Policy, guiding the growth of one of North America’s most successful transportation agencies and systems. He is a Board Director at BC Ferries and Chairs its Vision and Major Capital Committees, providing governance oversight for its multi-billion-dollar system transformation. He is an Adjunct Professor at UBC’s School of Community and Regional Planning, providing graduate-level instruction.
Kohbod Khandan-Barani
Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance, University of Toronto
Kohbod Khandan-Barani is the Manager of Programs and Research at the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities. He was previously a Research Assistant at TransForm Laboratory, where he worked on the Lab’s Future of Transportation Funding in Ontario project. He has also worked for Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada, where he led his division’s municipal finance research. Kohbod holds a Master of Planning degree with a major in Urban Development from Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Simon Fraser University.
Victor Copetti
Kingston Transit
Victor Copetti is a Registered Professional Planner who has focused on transportation and transit for nearly a decade. He has held various roles at Metrolinx, the Regional Municipality of Durham and BC Transit. Victor is currently working at Kingston Transit and completing his Master of Planning in Urban Development from Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) where he also received his undergraduate degree in Urban and Regional Planning. He holds GIS and project management certificates from TMU as well as Envision Sustainability Professional and LEED Green Associate credentials. Alongside his professional commitments, Victor mentors students through TMU’s School of Urban and Regional Planning Alumni Association and is working toward an auto mechanics certificate.
Councillor Jamaal Myers
City of Toronto / Toronto Transit Commission
Jamaal Myers was born and raised in Scarborough and regularly takes the TTC to get around his community. With the love and support of his family, access to strong public schools, loans, scholarships and summer jobs, including three summers cleaning trains at the TTC, Jamaal earned degrees from the University of Western Ontario, the London School of Economics and New York University. He went on to work as a corporate lawyer at two global law firms in New York before returning to Scarborough in 2018. Prior to being elected, Jamaal served as a senior lawyer at the Toronto-Dominion Bank where he worked on challenging ESG matters including corporate governance. He also served as Vice Chair of TAIBU Community Health Center and a director with the Scarborough Business Association. Jamaal was elected as the Councillor for Scarborough North in October 2022. He was appointed as Chair of the TTC in August 2023 and is the second black TTC Chair in its history. He is also the first TTC Chair to simultaneously be appointed as Chair of the Toronto Accessibility Advisory Committee. As Chair of the TTC, Jamaal recognizes that the TTC is the lifeblood of our city and is committed to improving transit safety, affordability, and reliability.
PRESENTATION: Political Perspectives on Toronto Transit Funding
Ana-Maria Tomlinson
CSA Group
Ana-Maria Tomlinson is the Director of Strategic and Cross Sector Programs within the Standards Division at CSA Group. In this role, she leads the implementation of new sector and cross-sector programs, focusing on establishing sustainable, impactful standards development initiatives that improve safety, health, the environment, and economic efficiency in Canada and beyond. She currently leads two standard development sectors: Transit and Passenger Rail, and Agriculture and Agrifood. Previously, Ana-Maria was a Manager of Strategic Initiatives at CSA Group, and successfully helped launch new standard development activities within climate change adaptation and resilience, natural and nature-based solutions, low carbon concrete, modular construction, building information modeling, and genomics. She coordinated impactful standards research activities, working with a broad range of academic institutions, government bodies and industry, nurtured relationships with key stakeholders, and established collaborations in key strategic areas. Ana-Maria is a board member with the Canadian Urban Transit Association. She holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Edinburgh, and a Bachelor of Applied Science and Engineering from the University of Toronto.
PANEL DISCUSSION: Visions for Ending the Transit Funding Emergency
Angie Clark
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113
Angie Clark is the Executive Vice-President of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 113, the labour union representing nearly 12,500 operations and maintenance workers of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). Growing up in a union home, Angie learned the importance of unions at a very young age. She has been a proud ATU Local 113 member since beginning her career as a TTC bus operator in 2009 and has been actively engaged in union activities since 2014. In 2016, Angie was elected to the women’s committee of the union. She has also served as an elected member of the Joint Health and Safety Committee for her work location and two terms on the union’s By-Law Committee. The first woman to be elected to the position of Vice-President of ATU Local 113, Angie is committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of all union members and oversees their Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and long-term disability cases. In addition to her work at ATU Local 113, she has been an elected delegate to the ATU International and ATU Canada conventions. Angie was recognized by ATU International and is the elected vice-chair of the ATU International Women’s Caucus.
PANEL DISCUSSION: Visions for Ending the Transit Funding Emergency
Michael Sutherland
Hatch Ltd.
Michael Sutherland brings together urban planning and design, economics, transportation and engineering. He is a recognized expert in Transit Oriented Development (TOD) and cities. He works globally as Hatch’s global lead for TODs in Australia, UAE, UK and North America, working across Hatch’s Place, People and Environment practice. Prior to joining Hatch almost 9 years ago, Michael developed the business case process for Metrolinx, developed projects and programs like the light rail projects currently under construction, subway extensions and the GO Expansion program. He used the business case method and helped advance TODs by initiating CIBC Square. He also worked closely with government to advance transit funding and finance ideas and tying them to regional planning. Michael holds degrees in Civil Engineering from Queen’s University; Cities, London School of Economics; and Law, University of Toronto.
PANEL DISCUSSION: Visions for Ending the Transit Funding Emergency
Adrian Lightstone
CPCS
Adrian Lightstone is Senior Vice President, Advanced Markets (Canada, UK, US) at CPCS. His expertise is unlocking major infrastructure projects for clients, and has led several complex multidisciplinary transportation projects relating to regional transportation, intercity rail, transit and freight. Having served clients in Canada, the US, the UK, Sweden and Australia, Adrian mixes his strategic advisory experience and deep knowledge of feasibility and due diligence studies, business case, financial and economic modelling, policy and stakeholder engagement. Prior to joining CPCS, he worked with WSP and HDR. Adrian holds a Master of Science in Economics from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and a Bachelor of Science and Engineering from Queen’s University in Kingston.
PANEL DISCUSSION: Visions for Ending the Transit Funding Emergency
Andrew Miller
Paladin Consulting
Andrew Miller is a consultant, advisor, and speaker on innovative mobility and artificial intelligence. He has 20 years of experience spanning academia; government at the municipal, sub-national, and federal levels; and private-sector advisory. Andrew was formerly the Toronto mobility lead for Sidewalk Labs, Google’s smart-city firm, where he led development of innovative mobility systems for a proposed “city of the future” on the Toronto waterfront. Andrew is the co-author of the second edition of The End of Driving (forthcoming August 2025), the revised and expanded version of a book on the opportunities for, and implications of, driverless vehicles for cities. He is a fellow of the Roots of Progress Institute and a student of the Center for AI Safety. He writes deep-dive articles on mobility, innovation, and transit twice weekly at his Substack newsletter, Changing Lanes. Andrew holds a BA from McGill University, an MA from Yale University, and a PhD from Johns Hopkins University.
PANEL DISCUSSION: Visions for Ending the Transit Funding Emergency
Chris Prentice
Canadian Transit Heritage Foundation
A native of Toronto and a graduate of York University, Chris has an extensive background in public transit management in Welland, Brampton and Halifax, beginning his career as an operating coach cleaner with the Toronto Transit Commission in 1967. He was a Senior Public Transit Consultant with Delcan, IBI Group and Arcadis for 33 years and is a past President of the Ontario Urban Transit Association. He is also a past member of the Board of Directors of the Ontario Public Transit Association and the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA). He was chair of CUTA’s Awards Committee for 22 years. With a life-long passion for public transit and its history, Chris is a founding Director of the Canadian Transit Heritage Foundation and has been its President since 2003. He was the recipient of CUTA’s William G. Ross Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.
PANEL DISCUSSION: Visions for Ending the Transit Funding Emergency