Toews to Katz: Get on the bus

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This article was published 26/06/2010 (5658 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Senior Manitoba MP Vic Toews says it’s time for Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz “to fish or cut bait” on the second phase of the Southwest Rapid Transit Corridor, which the province wants to build as a busway.

But the federal minister left the door open a crack for Katz to find a way to complete the project as a light-rail corridor.

For the past six months, the city and province have been mired in a dispute over the completion of a rapid-transit corridor that will eventually extend from Queen Elizabeth Way near The Forks to Bison Drive near the University of Manitoba.

The $138-million first phase of the corridor, which runs 3.6 kilometres from Queen Elizabeth Way to Jubilee Avenue, is under construction and is expected to be completed in late 2011.

The province and Ottawa have offered Winnipeg $130 million toward the $220-million second phase, a six-kilometre extension that would run parallel to Pembina Highway.

Katz has refused to sign on to the plan, partly because it’s less than two-thirds of the total cost, but mostly because he’d rather upgrade the entire corridor — Winnipeg’s first rapid-transit line — to a form of light rail involving flexible streetcars that can ride on both roads and tracks.

The mayor wants Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger to agree to lobby Ottawa to fund light rail through a pot of money set aside for public-private partnerships.

Katz wants Selinger to agree to redirect existing infrastructure cash to road and bridge projects instead.

On Thursday, Toews reiterated he stands with the province in the rapid-transit dispute. “I’ve made my position very clear. There comes a point where you have to fish or cut bait and I think all the decisions have been made here,” Toews said. “I’ve been very supportive of what the province and the city have been doing here. I want to see the province and the city get along, but I also want to make sure this project moves ahead.”

Manitoba Local Government Minister Ron Lemieux has also told Katz “to get on with it” with regards to the southwest corridor. But the mayor said he believes Selinger will change his mind once the city is able to hand him a light-rail report, which is expected in July.

The report should demonstrate it is not as expensive as previously thought to switch to light rail that employs flexible streetcars, Katz said.

The mayor said he has already started speaking to the administrators of a federal fund for public-private partnerships.

“They’re very interested,” said Katz, adding Ottawa may even split the cost of a business plan. “The opportunity is definitely there.”

Toews confirmed rapid transit is an approved category for public-private partnership funding.

If Katz is successful, Ottawa could fund 25 per cent of a light-rail route built as a public-private partnership, over and above any infrastructure commitments using the Building Canada Fund.

This would allow all three levels of government to redirect $130 million worth of infrastructure money to traffic improvements at Polo Park, the extension of Chief Peguis Trail west to McPhillips Street or other road-and-bridge upgrades on an 11-project city wish list, Katz said.

“Why would they say no to that?” Katz asked, referring to the province. “People aren’t going to stick to an idea after they realize it’s not what’s best for Winnipeg or for the taxpayers.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that LRT is not only light, but right.”

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca