TORONTO – Ontarians want better transit. They’ll tell you every poll they get – a common priority uniting embittered commuters and the gridlock-weary across the province.
So all three provincial candidates are promising better transit and transportation infrastructure. And they promise you won’t have to pay for it.
This was supposed to be an “adult conversation” on transit and infrastructure funding – a chance to rise above political prevarications over so-called “revenue tools.”
First there was a long-awaited report from Metrolinx, the provincial body meant to take the politics out of transit planning. (No, we’re serious; Stop laughing.)
That report, which came out in March, 2013 suggested several possible revenue tools including a one percentage point increase to the HST, a five cents gas tax, a business parking levy, development charges, HOV lanes, pay for parking at transit stations and land value capture.
The report was given to the ministry of transportation and heads of municipal councils for review.
In Depth: Ontario Election 2014
Naturally, the minority Liberals decided what they needed was another report – this one from a 13-member expert panel.
That report, which came out in December, 2013, suggested a hike in the gas tax, a small hike in corporate tax, and shifting a small portion of HST revenue. The panel estimated these sources would generate up to $1.8 billion annually.
“I knew that it was going to be difficult to make the connection between the transit needs and having to pay for it,” Premier Kathleen Wynne told The Globe and Mail in December, 2013.
Wynne acquiesced to NDP demands not to raise the cost-of-living for the so-called “middle class” in March and agreed to take an increased gas tax off the table.
Transit panel chair Ann Golden says she never expected Wynne to take every single recommendation.
“I think she’s doing what she assesses is possible to do,” she said. “I never expected that they were going to implement our plan with every footnote.”
Liberals
Four months after that report came out, the Liberals pledged to spend almost $30 billion over ten years on new transit and transportation infrastructure projects across the province including the downtown relief line, increased GO service and an expansion of the Yonge-University Spadina line. That will likely involve going further into debt, however – we just don’t know by how much.
Their May 1 budget would dedicate existing funds from HOV toll lanes and the gas tax, but didn’t say where they’d cut that $750 million a year from.
New taxes on the richest two per cent would bring in about $150 million a year. Tax hikes on smokers and aviation fuel, an additional $195 million annually by 2016.
Watch video: Wynne continues to make transit a key plank in her election campaign.
That leaves about $10 billion to be covered by the federal government or debt or both. The Liberals say they think the province would qualify for close to this much in federal infrastructure grants.
“That level of investment is greater than anything I’m seeing than in any other city at the current time,” Golden said.
“One of the interesting things to me is the disconnect to me in the public’s mind that people think transit is absolutely critical but no one wants to pay for it.”
NDP
The NDP has said it wants to freeze transit fares and take on half the operating cost of these systems – no mean financial feat. No word yet on how it would pay for this, but leader Andrea Horwath has promised a fully costed budget soon.
She also says she’d pay for transit expansion, including the Downtown Relief Line and Union-Pearson Express, with a tax hike for business – “encouraging businesses to engage” in transit expansion is how she’s put it. No hard numbers on that so far.
Progressive Conservatives
No new taxes, leader Tim Hudak promises – just $2 billion a year taken from existing infrastructure funds.
The Tories haven’t said where they’d cut that $2 billion from. Right now the province spends about $12 billion on infrastructure annually, covering everything from transportation to schools, hospitals and courthouses.
Hudak has said he wants to build a new east-west line (otherwise known as a relief line) through Toronto and take on the costs of the subway and LRT costs of the TTC and the Don Valley Parkway.
“We have the worst traffic congestion in North America,” Hudak said when delivering his platform Wednesday. “It means that employers are less likely to set up and expand here.”
Watch video: Tim Hudak lays out his plan for building transit
Ed Levy, a transit planner with more than 50 years experience, said the Liberals budget plan is “the most realistic” of the three. But that “isn’t saying that much.”
That said, “I think they’re still missing a bit by not looking for something like an across the board 1-cent sales tax. I don’t think anybody would even notice it but it’s such a sensitive topic these days, anything to do with tax is a four-letter word all of a sudden.”
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