TTC gets $500M boost from Ottawa

Phase 1 of Liberals’ national infrastructure repair plan will also include $570 million for wastewater projects in Toronto and other Ontario cities.

Thestar.com
Aug. 23, 2016
By Betsy Powell

Ottawa will pump $500 million into the beleaguered TTC in 2016-17 for dozens of projects, ranging from subway and bus repairs to adding bike parking at 40 stations, the Star has learned.

The federal cash is flowing to the province and cities to spend on transit and water, to “make sure what we already have is in a state of good repair and optimizing our existing infrastructure,” Kate Monfette, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Infrastructure and Communities, said Monday.

It’s a substantial down-payment on the $840 million the federal government has earmarked for Toronto transit. “There are more projects to come,” Monfette said.

TTC chair Josh Colle acknowledged the funded projects are not glamorous but said the nuts-and-bolts transit work is needed to reduce breakdowns and delays.

“This kind of work just gets neglected constantly - it’s hard to ribbon-cut for a subway pump but people get angry when we close a line or a station to deal with repairs. With a (repair) backlog so big, we just need help from other levels of government. To have a federal government that gets that and steps up is really encouraging and almost unheard of.”

Colle said the funding also includes tens of millions of dollars that will help disabled Torontonians by expanding and accelerating the addition of elevators at more stations, getting on the road more accessible buses, streetcars and WheelTrans vehicles, and more.

He noted this round of federal stimulus funding was aimed at projects underway or ready to go, and hopes that phase 2 “will help with state of good repair but also system expansion.”

This new money, however, appears to do nothing to address the looming fiscal crunch for the TTC, which has been ordered by Mayor John Tory and council to cut 2.6 per cent from the 2017 net operating budget, or $15.9 million.

The Liberals pledged during the federal election to increase infrastructure spending across Canada by $60 million over the next 10 years. The federal government is taking a two-pronged approach to allocating the money.

In phase one, Ottawa is giving the province $1.48 billion for public transit and $570 million for wastewater infrastructure projects, covering half the tab retroactive to April 1. The municipalities must pony up the other half.

The remaining funding areas in phase two will be expanded to include culture, recreation, tourism and other sectors focused on transitioning to a clean and green economy. Details are to be announced within the next year.

Liberal MPs are fanning out across the country to roll out the long-awaited details of the infrastructure spending across the country. Finance Minister Bill Morneau will unveil the list of transit projects Tuesday in Toronto alongside Mayor John Tory.

The new money “will ensure that our residents can move around the city quickly, safely and reliably by modernizing and expanding our transit and transportation systems,” Tory wrote in an email sent to councillors Monday night. He added the money ensures the city is “well positioned for the second phase of federal transit funding,” because it also invests in the planning and design of SmartTrack, the downtown relief line and the Crosstown East LRT.

Also Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will join Premier Kathleen Wynne to announce they have signed a bilateral agreement worth $2.97 billion in combined funding for transit projects in Ontario.

The province and city identified projects for funding and submitted them to Ottawa. The formula used to determine the transit allocation is based on ridership numbers.

At Queen’s Park, an official said the government is pleased to have “a federal partner that shares our commitment to building infrastructure.

“Our country is at its best when all orders of government - federal, provincial and municipal - work together. That’s exactly what we are seeing with this unprecedented partnership,” the official said.

“We are all eager to begin construction and start progress on our infrastructure commitments.”

The previous Conservative government ignored demands by Toronto and other big cities for a national transit strategy with shared objectives and stable, dependable funding.