Ontario Construction News staff writer
Transportation and Highway Safety Ministers from across Canada agree they must work together to build the critical infrastructure that will help communities thrive, get people and goods moving, and drive business investment and job creation.
Caroline Mulroney, Minister of Transportation, made the statement after the Council of Ministers Responsible for Transportation and Highway Safety annual meeting.
“Our government remains committed to working together with federal partners to build a better transportation network for the people of Ontario,” she said. “To deliver on this, we are making the single largest capital investment in new subway builds and extensions in Canadian history with our New Subway Transit Plan for the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
Earlier in the day, the Province and the City of Toronto signed the “Ontario-Toronto Transit Partnership Preliminary Agreement” – a step toward expanding Ontario’s transportation network a reality.
“In a meeting with Minister Garneau yesterday, I formally requested that the federal government provide a minimum 40 per cent contribution to Ontario’s four historic and nationally significant subway projects in the forthcoming federal budget,” Mulroney said.
Based on preliminary cost estimates for Ontario’s subway projects and Ottawa’s role to make a minimum 40 per cent contribution to these major infrastructure projects, the federal government should contribute about $6 billion in additional funding beyond what has already been allocated, she added.
Ontario is also developing comprehensive regional transportation plans to connect the Greater Golden Horseshoe and northern, eastern and southwestern Ontario.
Plans were released in January to address the needs of southwestern Ontario’s highways, airports, marine and rail infrastructure, and will require federal collaboration to be fully realized.
In addition, the province has approved funding for more than 350 projects under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, 120 approved by the federal government.
“We encourage the federal government to continue to review, approve and fund their share of these projects as soon as possible so we can get shovels in the ground and keep our province moving,” Mulroney said.