Toronto mayoral candidate Sarah Thomson is "yelling timber" in an attempt to draw attention to her $25-billion transit plan.
Singing to her own rendition of the popular song "Timber" by American singers Pitbull and Kesha, Thomson explains the benefits of her ambitious plan in a new subway-themed music video.
"It's going down, I'm yelling timber!" sings Thomson in the YouTube video. "We'll build the subway, a vast expense."
Dubbed the "Tunnel Toronto" plan, the proposal calls for the construction of:
- A $10-billion Yonge Street relief line
- A $2.4-billion underground LRT line to replace the Scarborough RT
- A $2.75-billion Sheppard east underground LRT line
- A $1.4-billion Sheppard west subway line
- A $3-billion Waterfront west underground LRT line
- A $5.45-billion Jane Street underground LRT line
"The bigger the line, the longer the time, these underground trains will relieve the pain," Thomson's backup sings in the video. "I want ‘em with a big caboose, shovels down, in the darkened tunnels."
Thomson -- who previously ran for mayor in 2010 before pulling out of the race and endorsing George Smitherman -- says funding for the plan will come from road tolls on the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway.
She said approximately $370 million a year can be raised by charging drivers $2.50 a trip. Using the money raised from the tolls, Thomson says the City of Toronto will then be able to issue bonds to raise the $10 billion needed to construct the Yonge Street relief subway line.
The remainder of the plan will be funded by the $15.1 billion the provincial government recently pledged for transit expansion, Thomson says.
"Toronto must act now. The Tunnel Toronto plan is a real solution that will cause real change and limit the growing gridlock dilemma in our city," Thomson explains on her website.
This is not the first time Thomson has used flashy tactics to draw attention to her campaign. In March, the Women's Post publisher rode a horse-drawn carriage to city hall to file her paperwork as she officially entered the mayoral race.