Jason McDonald has worked in the Little Jamaica neighbourhood around Eglinton West since 1999.
He wasn’t getting jobs elsewhere in the city, so he came to Little Jamaica and developed his trade, quickly starting a hair salon business.
It was going well for the first 10 years, he says, but since Metrolinx arrived 15 years ago, “it has been very difficult.”
Metrolinx is the transit agency controlled by the province that is building the Eglinton light rail transit (LRT) line. The project has been delayed and is nearly $4 billion over budget.
McDonald’s business, Casual Beauty Salon, is two doors down from the LRT station on Eglinton at Oakwood. While construction was happening, his basement got flooded in 2015 and the sign above the front of the store fell down due to vibrations. Multiple times.
In 2023, McDonald became chair of the York-Eglinton Business Improvement Area. He says the delays and the disruptions from construction on Eglinton cause constant uncertainty for businesses.
McDonald says that even with the significant federal support for small businesses during the pandemic, many of them along Eglinton have closed.
“It has affected the community,” he says.
Business is unstable with Metrolinx at work. But “landlords, banks, they want their money at a certain date,” McDonald says.
“When you kick a dog and you kick a dog, after a while he gets used to your kicking him. You know what I mean? And that’s how I feel. I feel like I’m a dog, and I’ve been kicked and I’ve been kicked and it’s at a point now where we’re used to it.”
The TTC, which will operate the Eglinton LRT, says they hope to open it this summer.
“But we heard that in 2015, we heard that in 2018, we heard that in 2020. It is what it is,” says McDonald.
The rail line has been plagued with construction delays and safety issues.
The Finch LRT has similarly been delayed. It still isn’t open after missing the 2021 target. The TTC also hopes to start running the Finch line this summer.
McDonald is frustrated because many small business owners in Little Jamaica can barely provide for their families, let alone grow their wealth.
“Our businesses in Little Jamaica [are] basically here just to pay bills. The businesses are struggling. If they’re struggling, that defeats the purpose of a small business.”
So what’s McDonald’s message to Metrolinx and premier Doug Ford?
“Deal with the small businesses right.”