TTC chair Karen Stintz says that infrastructure funding announced in the 2013 federal budget on Thursday could help Toronto pay for a downtown subway.
Moments after the Conservative government released its budget on Parliament Hill, Stintz held a press conference outside her City Hall office and hailed what she called “good news” for our gridlock-plagued city.
The budget includes $47 billion in infrastructure spending over the next ten years under the Building Canada plan, and pledges to increase federal gas tax contributions to municipalities by 2 per cent annually over 20 years.
Stintz says that a portion of the $47-billion Building Canada money should go towards a Downtown Relief Line.
“Our objective is… to apply and get as much money as we can, and make sure we get our Downtown Relief Line built,” she said.
“It is a Canada-wide fund, so we need to get to the table quickly and do our part to make sure we get our share.”
The first stage of the Downtown Relief Line would cost an estimated $3.2 billion, depending on the alignment. Stintz said that ideally, that cost would be split equally between the city, province, and federal government.
She stressed that the funding injection would not preclude the need for new, dedicated revenue tools to pay for transit expansion, however.
As for the increased gas tax contribution, Stintz said that she hopes it will be used to keep the transit system in a state of good repair as it expands in the coming years. The city currently receives $154.4 million from the federal gas tax, and allocates it to various TTC capital projects.
As Stintz soaked up the media spotlight on Thursday, Mayor Rob Ford was nowhere to be seen on the second floor of City Hall.
An hour and a half later his office released a brief statement however, calling the budget “welcome news.”
“I’m happy to see that many of Toronto’s ideas are reflected in the Budget,” the statement said, “and I look forward to working with the Federal Government to ensure Toronto benefits fully from these funding commitments.”
Ford campaigned on building underground transit for Toronto but has struggled to put forward a plan to pay for it.
Asked whether the mayor should be the one announcing the TTC’s intention to use federal funds for subways, Stintz, who many predict will run against Ford in the 2014 election, brushed off the question.
“I’ll let the mayor speak for himself. I’m only speaking as chair of the TTC,” she said.
But Stintz conceded that Toronto’s chances of securing the funding would likely be better if the mayor took a leading role.
“When you have the mayor on board, things become easier, there’s no question. This is the kind of project that I think the mayor has supported, so I can’t imagine that he wouldn’t want to support this kind of initiative.”
