The survival of a small business in Toronto is on the line after it was served an expropriation notice by Metrolinx to make way for the Scarborough Subway Extension project. 

Pro Life Wellness Centre, located in a plaza just off McCowan Road and Sheppard Avenue East, is a physiotherapy wellness clinic with over 25 employees. 

The small business is currently facing eviction from the premises where they operate, and despite attempting to contact elected officials for help, is being told they have until Aug. 15 to depart from their location. 

The Scarborough Subway Extension is set to bring the TTC's Line 2 subway service nearly eight kilometres farther into Scarborough, replacing Line 3 (the Scarborough RT), and extending from Kennedy Station to Sheppard Avenue and McCowan Road. 

Pro Life Wellness Centre's clinic manager, Charlene Owens, told blogTO that the business first received the expropriation letter in October 2021. Since then, she claims Metrolinx has been unresponsive during the stressful search for an alternative location. 

"They're being very dismissive of small businesses, including us," Owens explained. 

Finding another space in the area proved to be a challenge, with Metrolinx providing alternative options outside of Scarborough, far from where the clinic's customers are based. 

The business finally managed to secure an alternate location in July 2022, but had to embark on a lengthy permit and funding process, that was made worse by Metrolinx's unresponsiveness, according to Owens. 

"During the whole process, everything's been all on us. We've been fronting the money — money that we don't even have," she told blogTO. "So we had to pay for the demolition, we had to pay for the permits, we had to pay for first and last. We were still asking Metrolinx to help us and to provide the money." 

The clinic finally received permits to begin construction in January 2023, around the same time that tunnelling on the Scarborough extension began. 

"Contractors would leave us because I would promise them money. They promised that they will cover the costs that we had, but then they wouldn't give us the money," clinic director Ajay told blogTO. 

"We couldn't wait. So then we started the construction, and then we had the contractors leaving us. Around March or April time, we came to a point where he had no money, we exhausted over $200,000." 

The clinic finally received a payment from Metrolinx in May, but still doesn't have enough funds to continue with the next phase of construction. 

"In order for them to pay us, we have to sign saying we're going to leave on Aug. 15., and we refuse to sign that. They're pushing us by holding the money and now, the construction came to a stop again," Ajay said. "We lost the contractors, and we're going to lose our business at this point."

Although the clinic's new space is located just five minutes away from its original space, it lacks the visibility it previously boasted from the bustling intersection of McCowan Road and Sheppard Avenue East.

"Where do they expect us to go? We can't just uproot an entire clinic employing over 25 employees and serving 60 to 80 patients a day. All we're asking for is to let us finish our renovations," Owens said. 

The clinic still needs at least eight to 10 weeks to wrap up construction on its new location, leaving employees and patients in the dark about what the next few months will look like. 

Over the weekend, the clinic's lawyers filed an application with the courts to get an order to extend the business' time at its current location, as well as receive payment for the continued construction.  ​​​

"Metrolinx is a big company. They should be able to handle these kinds of things before they start these kinds of projects," Ajay explained. "We found a place. The problem is, we don't have the time and money to finish the job."