Conservative Leader Stephen Harper says that, if re-elected in October, his government will continue to invest in the expansion of TTC services to help reduce traffic congestion in Toronto.
“We’re continuing to make large-scale investments…in the Scarborough system, in the Sheppard line, in the extension of the Spadina subway north. We will continue to invest in the TTC,” Harper said on Tuesday in an exclusive interview with CTV Toronto anchor Ken Shaw.
In June, the Conservative leader announced that the federal government would pay up to one-third of the cost of Mayor John Tory’s ambitious $8.5-billion SmartTrack program, which will extend the city’s existing transit network west to Mississauga, east through Scarborough, and north to Markham.
Harper said his support for SmartTrack is part of a Conservative government’s broader investment in transit infrastructure across the country.
“We have launched the largest, longest, most ambitious federal infrastructure expenditure program in Canadian history,” he said. “It’s going be some $80 billion over the next decade.”
“(In Toronto) the biggest announcement going forward is the public transit fund.”
What sets the Conservatives’ plan for infrastructure investment apart, Harper said, is that it will have an immediate effect on taxes.
“Unlike the other parties, we are doing this within a budget that is balanced and without raising people’s taxes,” Harper said. “We believe, in an unstable global economy, that’s not a sound policy to protect our economy and secure our future.”
The plan, which Tory named SmartTrack during his election campaign, will see 53 kilometres of above-ground rail added to the city's subway system, connecting Scarborough, downtown Toronto and Etobicoke. Tory promised 22 new subway stations, many of which will be built along existing GO Transit tracks to create greater overlap between the two transit networks.
The federal election is set for Oct. 19.
