Bowman welcomes federal public-transit fund

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This article was published 21/04/2015 (4141 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mayor Brian Bowman praised the creation of a new federal public-transit fund but concedes he doesn’t know how much money will come Winnipeg’s way.

The 2015 federal budget calls for a new Public Transit Fund to kick off in 2017 with at $250-million in spending. That will rise to $500 million in 2018-19 and finally $1 billion in 2019-20 — and remain at that level in perpetuity.

Bowman said he’s pleased to see the emergence of a dedicated fund, but could not say how much of that cash Winnipeg could access to help build five rapid-transit corridors he promised to build in addition to the completion of the Southwest Transitway.

“It’s going to be of great assistance to big cities across Canada,” Bowman told reporters outside his office.

Ottawa has already committed $137 million toward a $587-million southwest Winnipeg infrastructure project that includes the extension of the transitway to the University of Manitoba campus and land-drainage works. The remaining five corridors on the mayor’s wish list are expected to cost billions.

Bowman said he was also pleased to see Ottawa continue to dedicate cash for municipal infrastructure through the Building Canada Fund, but looks forward to having “a longer conversation” about a funding deal for cities that will not require them to rely so heavily on property taxes.

Previous Winnipeg mayors have tried and failed to address this issue.

City council finance chairman Marty Morantz (Charleswood-Tuxedo), in Ottawa to attend the budget speech, said the city really wanted to hear an indication Ottawa was listening to cities about the funding model. There was no mention of any new deal for cities in the budget.

Later, Morantz tweeted a selfie from the office of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and praised the budget.

“Amazing Federal budget! Love the Major Public Transit Fund! Great news for Cities!” he tweeted.