The GTA woke up on Sunday, November 9, 2025, under a blanket of snow — 2 to 10 centimetres across the region.
By afternoon, traffic was crawling. More than 140 collisions were reported across the highways. It wasn’t a blizzard, just an ordinary storm — and yet, everything stopped.

But what struck me tonight wasn’t the gridlock. It was what I saw underground.

Every station I passed through, every train I operated, there were people seeking warmth — far more than usual.
They were lying on benches, sleeping near elevators, huddled in corners, some stretched across the floor. They weren’t waiting for a train. They were waiting for warmth.

The subway has quietly become Toronto’s emergency shelter — a place where people come to escape the brutality of winter when the city above freezes over.

The Underground Instinct

That word — underground — matters.
It’s where people instinctively go when survival depends on protection from the elements.
Beneath the surface, temperatures are stable. It’s warm in the winter, cool in the summer. The underground literally saves lives — and that’s exactly why Ontario Connected envisions a province that builds with the climate, not against it.

A System Designed for People

Our cities need to rethink what “infrastructure” really means.
Not just roads and rails — but refuge.

Imagine a network where transit, housing, and humanity meet underground and above — connected hubs where people can travel, rest, eat, or simply stay warm.
Shelters integrated into transit corridors. Accessible care centres. Safe spaces built right into the backbone of the system — not hidden away.

Because yesterday, Toronto’s subways weren’t just moving people. They were protecting them.

Connection Above and Below

A few centimetres of snow shouldn’t bring a region to its knees — or push people underground for survival.
But until we design a system that truly connects us — above and below — we’ll keep mistaking weather for the problem, when in truth, it’s the way we’ve built our cities that’s failing us.

Ontario Connected stands for that connection — for a province where going underground isn’t an act of desperation, but a design for resilience.