About the Don Valley Cable Car
The Don Valley Cable Car initiative is an innovative project within the history of Toronto. It brings together the public, private and not-for-profit sectors to build something truly unique for the city.
By connecting Playter Gardens parkette to the Evergreen Brick Works, the cable car reduces the need to drive, eliminates crowded parking lots and enhances access to urban greenspace.
This modern piece of recreational infrastructure not only solves a neighbourhood transport problem but creates an iconic attraction that’s both fun and affordable to visitors and locals alike.
Community Information Session
The Don Valley Cable Car project team hosted a community information session on March 8th, 2016 in the Broadview & Danforth area of Toronto at the Estonian House.
This meeting provided all interested parties with a comprehensive understanding of the project and all current project details.
Stakeholders were invited to express their opinions on the project (both positively and negatively).
Over 140 stakeholders attended the info session with over 50 submitting formal opinions and comments.
These opinions will be collated and made available for public review. Names and contact details of participants will be kept strictly confidential.
Subscribers to our email newsletter will be advised when these results are available for review.
Our commitment to the community
This is not the beginning of a development application process, it is the beginning of a conversation and a dialogue with the local community.
No applications have been made for this project and no plans have been filed. This website isn’t a means of promotion, it is a means of fostering understanding and communication between the variety of stakeholders a project like this needs to be realized. Conversations with various community leaders and groups have recently begun and now’s the time for the entire community to make their opinion on the project heard.
If there is something you see missing from this website and would like to see us address it, please contact us at general@donvalleycablecar.com and inform us. We’ll do our best to address your concerns.
Partners
The Don Valley Cable Car has partnered with and retained numerous international and local specialists in a wide variety of fields to ensure the project is built to the highest technical, environmental and community-building standards.
Project Team
The Don Valley Cable Car initiative has assembled a wide and deep pool of talent with extensive experience in finance, urban planning, development, corporate law and technical matters related to the cable car.
Robert Macdonald
Chairman
Robert is the Chairman and Managing Director of AgriFood Capital Corporation (AFCC) and responsible for implementing their capital markets strategy. Robert was the Founder and President of Afton Food Group and its predecessor companies, food services-industry businesses that grew from a standing start to system sales in excess of $180 million per annum.
He has significant experience in both franchising and real estate industries, as well as substantial experience in mergers and acquisitions, and has personally directed debt/equity capital creation in excess of $150 million. Robert has also acted as an investor or director in several private companies that were subsequently taken public on the TSX.V.
Robert was educated in Commerce and Agriculture at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
Steven Dale
Chief Executive Officer
Steven Dale is the Founder and President of Creative Urban Projects Inc, Managing Director of Cable Car Consultants GmbH and the creator of The Gondola Project website—the world’s most widely read resource on cable transit solutions. Steven is a planner, researcher and designer who specializes in Cable Propelled Transit systems and wrote the first literature review on the subject in the English-speaking world.
Steven has managed and developed projects around the globe; is frequently profiled in major media outlets; has co-published several peer-reviewed journal articles; and travels constantly in order to help educate people about the unique value that cable transit systems can offer urban environments.
Steven holds two degrees in urban planning from the University of Toronto and Ryerson University.
Tino Imhäuser
Technical Director
Tino has worked in the ropeway industry as a technician, designer, project manager and salesman. Starting as a draftsman and apprentice, Tino is a 35-year veteran with experience in nearly every facet of the ropeway business.
Tino has led research efforts with major cable transit manufacturers to develop and implement cable car technologies targeted to the urban market. He has travelled around the globe designing and commissioning new ropeway systems in developing markets. His work spans Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Africa.
Most Recently, Tino commissioned ten lifts for the Sochi Olympics and a pair of lifts for the World Cup of Skiing in South Korea.
Tino is fluent in German and English; he speaks some French and Spanish.
Brian Dingwall
Business Development
Brian has practiced law for over 20 years, and held General Counsel roles in many public and private companies with market capitalizations in the nine figure range.
He has been involved in businesses which have introduced new products to regulated and deregulated markets, and has taken part in numerous regulatory and policy processes which have led to the enablement of new technologies and services in the energy sector.
Brian has also been involved in many mergers, acquisitions, and corporate restructurings, and specializes in matters of corporate governance.
Mike Appelton
Chief Operating Officer
Mike has 15 years of experience serving the banking and power market industries. He has an extensive track record in financial and lending environments including Bruce Power, GE Capital and TD Bank. The majority of his career has been with GE Capital in Canada and Australia, where he held positions of increasing responsibility in sales, credit risk and portfolio management, ultimately structuring transactions totalling in excess of $500 million annually. He has also worked on transactions domiciled New Zealand and parts of Southeast Asia.
Mike holds an Honours Bachelor of Commerce from McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada and a Masters of Applied Finance from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.
Vince Conte
Chief Financial Officer
He is a Chartered Accountant who currently also serves as the CFO of Talon Metals Corp., a Toronto Stock Exchange listed company (TLO:TSX) focused on the exploration and development of projects in North & South America.
He was previously Vice President of Corporate Development and Financial Evaluation at Tau Capital Corp. Prior to this he was a Senior Manager with Deloitte & Touche LLP in Toronto, practicing in the Financial Advisory Group. In this role, Mr. Conte advised financial services, mining, real estate, private equity and infrastructure companies, including ports, airports, healthcare and power assets.
Vince holds the CFA and CBV designations.
Nicholas Chu
Research Director
Nick has worked extensively on urban planning projects and feasibility studies in Canada and abroad. Throughout his academic and professional career, Nick has featured prominently in projects both with the private and public sectors.
He is one of the few planners in the world with an intimate understanding of cable transit technologies and is a regular contributor to CUP’s Gondola Project website. He is frequently invited to transportation planning conferences around the world to speak on the matter of cable transit systems in urban environments.
Nick is an honours graduate from the University of Waterloo’s School of Planning Program, specializing in Land Development Planning. Nick is fluent in English and Cantonese and speaks some Mandarin.
G. Michael Newman
Special Advisor
Michael has more than 35 years of senior management and public company experience, including 25 years in the North American telecommunications industry.
Michael was the founder and President and CEO of InterRent Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX-IIP.UN) from 1997-2009, and a director of The SKOR Food Group Inc. (TSX.V-SKF) for nine years. He currently serves on the Boards of Succession Fund, and on the Independent Review Committees of Artemis US Capital Appreciation Fund, Citadel Income Fund (TSX-CTF.UN) and Energy Income Fund (TSX-ENI).
Throughout his career, Michael has served on the Boards of Directors of over a dozen TSX and TSX.V listed companies and assisted in the raising of over $250 million in debt and equity for these ventures.
Dr. Mitchell Kosny
Special Advisor
Dr. Kosny has a 25-year career of strong leadership through his roles as Director, Associate Director and Professor at the Ryerson School of Urban and Regional Planning in Toronto, Canada.
He is well-known for both his breadth and depth of work in strategic planning, facilitation, capacity-building and governance. He has led many redevelopment strategies and municipal reorganizations in cities and institutions both domestically and internationally (Eastern Europe, South Africa, and the Middle East).
Most recently, he served as Chair of the Toronto Community Housing Corporation, the second largest housing authority in North America. He has also held leadership positions in many organizations including the City of Toronto Committee of Adjustment, Social Planning Council of Toronto, Trillium Housing and Woodgreen Community Centre, one of Canada’s largest multi-service centres.