Mayor Matt Brown is hopeful the Liberal’s second federal budget will continue to make infrastructure spending commitments in the London area.
Though the document isn’t expected to contain a lot of new spending, Brown is curious about the next step for gaining and accessing further infrastructure funding.
“The federal government has made some significant commitments to infrastructure spending, and certainly all of the big city mayors right across Canada will be watching very keenly to see what phase two funding looks like, what that process looks like, and how quickly we can access it,” he said.
The biggest funding request London is making of the federal government is hundreds of millions of dollars to make the city’s $560-million dollar bus rapid transit plan a reality. It will also require funding from the provincial government.
“We’re very focused on the rapid transit system,” said Brown. “We’ve earmarked just under $130-million dollars from our development charges, not from our tax levy, to be directed towards this project.”
Brown notes London is also looking for infrastructure funding in water and wastewater, which he said is a significant focus that should be addressed in the budget.
Wednesday’s federal budget announcement is scheduled to be made at 4 p.m.