Watch video above: Wynne promises $29 billion for public transit but won’t say what new revenue tools will pay for it. Alan Carter reports.
TORONTO –Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne still won’t say how she plans to find new money to pay for transit, although she promises new sources of cash are coming.
For now, the Ontario government has pledged to dedicate a portion of the existing gas tax to building transit, getting them about 4.6 per cent of the way toward their $30-billion goal.
The province is also floating the idea of funding transit by selling public assets. No word on what assets or how much that would bring in.
Highlights:
- All the existing HST on gasoline and diesel will be dedicated to transportation infrastructure
- 7.5 cents of the gas tax would go toward Moving Ontario Forward
- The possible funds gained from selling government assets
- Funds from previously announced Green Bonds program
“Our plan would not be funded in the increase to the gas tax, HST or increases on middle to low-income earners,” she said Monday, stressing the plan needs to be supported by either the NDP or the Progressive Conservatives.
WATCH: Premier Kathleen Wynne announces an aggressive transit funding plan
The plan will raise approximately $29 billion over the next decade for transit and infrastructure, of which $15 billion will be dedicated to the Toronto and Hamilton area, Wynne said.
The HST on gas is expected to raise approximately $130 million in 2014/2015 and the 7.5 cents from the gas tax could add up to an additional $1.2 billion. Those two plans are in addition to the two cents from the provincial gas tax already distributed to municipalities for transit.
Wynne wouldn’t say what programs that normally depend on that gas tax money would get cut.
Hudak pre-emptively attacked Wynne’s plan, announcing his plan to build subways in Toronto early Monday morning in a press conference at the intersection of Yonge Street and Bloor Street.
“Doug Holyday and I, we’ve got a plan to invest in subways. To build underground, to get the city and the GTA moving again. But the last thing you want to do is increase taxes like Kathleen Wynne, the Liberals and the NDP want to do,” Hudak said. “The last thing you want to do is increase taxes, that will grind our economy to a halt.”
Hudak suggested Monday they could dedicate a portion of the $12 billion spent on infrastructure annually to transit. He also suggested increased economic activity would bring in more tax revenue and thus more funding for transit.
A plank of his subway plan, he said, was an “east-west express subway” which he compared to a downtown relief line.
The Wynne government had appointed a panel, headed by Anne Golden, which suggested several revenue tools including an increase to the provincial gas tax, as well as road tolls. But that idea was put on hold after NDP leader Andrea Horwath threatened to bring down the government should the Liberals increase taxes to pay for transit.
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