TORONTO -- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced $12 billion in federal funding for five rapid transit projects in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, including the Ontario Line subway.
Approximately $10.7 billion of the investment will go towards the cost of building the four projects included in the Progressive Conservative’s $28.5 billion transit plan: the three-stop Scarborough subway extension, the Ontario Line subway, the Yonge subway extension into Richmond Hill and the planned extension of the Eglinton Crosstown from Mount Denis to Renforth Drive.
The money will also help pay for a new rapid transit line in Hamilton that will go from McMaster University to Eastgate Centennial Park in Stoney Creek. That project was previously cancelled by the Ford government in December, 2019 before being revived this year.
At a news conference to share details of the funding on Tuesday afternoon, Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna called it a “once in a generation investment in public transportation in the GTA.”
“This is a smart plan worked through in earnest over the last six months and not easily made but it is a good deal for the residents of Toronto and York Region that will reduce congestion, get cars off the road, create good jobs, connect historically disadvantaged neighbourhoods and tackle climate change,” she said.
The province first announced its intention to build four new rapid transit lines in the GTA back in 2019, effectively replacing a planned downtown relief line long pursued by the City of Toronto with its Ontario Line project.
In recent months it had moved ahead with land expropriations and requests for proposals for some of the projects while continuing to call on the federal government to contribute the remaining 40 per cent of the capital costs.
The feds, however, did not formally commit to funding the projects until today.
“It was a bit of a difficult path to get where we are but the bottom line is we got there and it is a great day for transit in the City of Toronto and a great day for transit in the greater Toronto region,” Mayor John Tory said on Tuesday afternoon. “
The 15-stop Ontario Line is the centrepiece project in the Ford government’s public transit plan and will eventually connect Exhibition Place to the Ontario Science Centre via the downtown core.
The Yonge-North subway extension will travel eight kilometres from Finch Station to Vaughan, Markham and Richmond Hill. It will have four stops.
