After months of leading Metrolinx on an interim basis, the Ford government has formally appointed Michael Lindsay as the permanent president and CEO of the Ontario transportation agency.
Provincial officials confirmed Lindsay’s appointment in a statement released Wednesday afternoon and a day before the Metrolinx board was scheduled to meet for the first time in 2025.
As the agency’s president and CEO, he’ll oversee GO Transit, UP Express, the Presto fare card program, and rapid transit expansion projects.
His appointment comes as Metrolinx has faced criticism in recent years over various planning, budgetary and logistical issues facing major projects like the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, the Finch West LRT, the Hazel McCallion LRT, the Ontario Line, the Scarborough subway extension, GO Transit expansion, and the Hamilton LRT even though planning, construction, testing and commissioning work for all of those initiatives are ongoing.
Transit advocates have regularly argued there hasn’t been enough communication, transparency and accountability on multiple fronts at Metrolinx.
Lindsay, the former head of Infrastructure Ontario — the provincial agency charged with the procurement and commercialization of all major public infrastructure projects as well as managing Crown real estate — was tapped to take over at Metrolinx after former president and CEO Phil Verster announced his surprise resignation.
During a news conference on a new shipbuilding grant program in St. Catharines Wednesday morning, CityNews asked Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria about Lindsay’s tenure as interim head of Metrolinx and what type of mandate he had to change operations at the agency if he was going to stay in the position.
“I’ve, in a very short period of time, been very impressed with Michael Lindsay and his leadership and the vision that he has brought to Metrolinx,” Sarkaria said.
“Look, when you’re delivering an expansion of this magnitude that hasn’t been seen anywhere, not only in Canada, but in North America, there will be challenges. We’ll be learning along the way.
“Michael brings a very strong, experienced perspective to that, whether it be on the building side or building a team around himself, and I look forward to working with them.”
A graduate of Oxford University and Queen’s University, Lindsay climbed through the ranks of Infrastructure Ontario to become its president and CEO.
He previously worked in 2019 as a special advisor on uploading Toronto’s subway system to the Ontario government and before that with the Investment Management Corporation of Ontario, Hatch, and McKinsey & Company.
Meanwhile, Lindsay will make his debut as permanent head of Metrolinx during the organization’s board meeting on Thursday.
