Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the federal government will provide up to $2.6 billion in funding for Mayor John Tory’s SmartTrack proposal once a formal application has been received and approved
Harper made the announcement at the TTC’s Hillcrest Complex on Thursday afternoon, noting that the money will come from a new dedicated fund for public transit projects that was created in the most recent federal budget. That fund will see $250 million available for public transit projects in 2017, $500 million in 2018 and $1 billion annually after 2019.
SmartTrack, which largely relies on the electrification and retrofitting of existing GO Transit railway tracks, is the first project to be announced as a recipient of funding through the program.
“As an innovative proposal crossing multiple municipalities, the public transit fund has been designed with projects like SmartTrack in mind,” Harper said. “By adding capacity on a 53-kilometre regional express rail running from Mississauga, to the middle of Toronto and all the way to Markham it (SmartTrack) will take the pressure off other lines and by speeding up service with trains running every 15 minutes across town SmartTrack will slash commuting times for tens of thousands of hard working Torontonians. The bottom line is that SmartTrack will mean better and faster commutes for hundreds of thousands of people and in that our government is proud to partner.”
In April, the Ontario government included $2.8 billion in funding to electrify the Stouffville and Kitchener lines in its budget, which represented its one-third share of the total cost of building SmartTrack.
Now with the federal government promising to chip in $2.6 billion or one-third of the estimated $8 billion cost, the city is that much closer to fully funding the 22-stop, 53-kilometre light rail network, which Tory has promised to build within seven years.
“SmartTrack is going to get built. We have the provincial government onside, we have the federal government massively onside as of today and the city is going to do its part to get the work done and get the money raised,” Tory told reporters after Harper’s announcement on Thursday. “It is a great new story for Toronto and it was exactly what I said I would do when I was seeking this office.”
Tory says he remains confident in TIF financing
Tory has vowed to fund the city’s one-third share of SmartTrack through Tax Increment Financing, wherein a government borrows money to fund the cost of a project and then pays it back using additional tax revenue generated by higher property values and increased development.
While some have raised concerns about whether TIF financing can raise enough money to cover the city’s share of SmartTrack – most notably Olivia Chow during the mayoral campaign – Tory told reporters on Thursday that he remains “confident” it will work.
“I am not going to get into scenarios that say what if it doesn’t (work) because I am confident it will,” he said. “I talk to people almost every day who tell me that the construction of SmartTrack will cause them to make decisions to develop because what’s lacking right now is proper transit to service some of these areas.”
In February, city council voted in favour of spending $1.65 million on a number of feasibility studies for SmartTrack. The city manager is expected to report back on those studies in the fall.
Meanwhile, SmartTrack itself has still not been approved by council but on Thursday Harper said he is "optimistic" that it will ultimately be supported.
"When the federal government comes along with $2.6 billion to assist the visonary project of a mayor on which he was just elected, I would have a very optimistic view on the possibility of city council adopting that project," he said.
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