May 19th, 2010
So, about that federal LRT funding…
By Spacing Ottawa // 3 Comments
Is it all just pie in the sky without the feds?
Editor's note: the following article was written by Peter Raaymakers, Executive Director of Transit Ottawa. It originally appeared on the Public Transit in Ottawa website.
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The City of Ottawa is still waiting to hear the federal government announce their intentions to match (or hopefully exceed) the provincial $600M funding pledge for the city's $2.1B light-rail transit plan. Queen's Park made its pledge back in December, and the general understanding was that a similar announcement from Federal Infrastructure Minister John Baird would come in a matter of days.
And then days became weeks. And now weeks have become months.
Some councillors, including Transit Committee Vice-Chair Marianne Wilkinson, are getting a little antsy waiting for the announcement. From 580 CFRA:
"Vice Chair of Ottawa City Hall's Transit Committee Marianne Wilkinson says the environmental assessment is almost complete and she'd like to hear something concrete soon.
She suggests a delay in funding could slow down the project."
The actual groundbreaking for the project is still a ways off, but that date is getting closer, and we haven't really heard a peep since the federal government's most recent re-committing its $200M in transit plan funding--that money that's been on the table for years, waiting for a transit plan to fund.
Hopefully the announcement will come soon; light-rail transit in Ottawa has already been delayed long enough.
-Image by City of Ottawa
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You remember how the last civic election got decided by the timing and content of one of Baird's announcements on this subject, right?
Baird won't do anything until he can be sure one of his conservative cronies can get the credit. Just the same as he cancelled the first try because it wasn't supported by Mayor Zero.
It's been said, but you would think that with John Baird being a local politician, this sort of thing would come more quickly, wouldn't you?
Comment by David McClelland
May 19, 2010 | 5:34 pm