The Federal government announced this morning (Wednesday) an additional $14.9 billion will be allocated to public transit systems across Canada over the next 5 years.
$3 billion will be distributed across the country every year until 2027, according to Garth Frizzell, President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and PG City Council Member this will alleviate a lot of financial pressure placed on municipal governments.
“This is really significant it’s usually local governments that are on the hook for transportation so to see the federal government come to the table in such a significant way is so promising,” said Frizzell.
According to Frizzell, the funding will then be growing into a permanent transit fund beyond ICIP’s 2027 horizon to offer a sense of long-term predictability within public transit across Canada.
Officials have yet to determine how the funding will be distributed across the country, but according to Frizzell, the funding will be divided up between urban and rural areas.
“We specifically recognize today’s commitment to supporting transit in rural communities, getting people moving is a priority in communities of all sizes across Canada,” said Frizzell,” so we’re happy to see a nation-building transit plan with distinct support for rural and regional transportation needs.
Frizzell said that in Prince George, public transit ridership began spiralling downward in March and it is important that the city doesn’t start scaling back on transportation, as it will be extremely necessary to the city’s economic recovery.
He also added that when BC lost the services of Greyhound Transportation, it created a real issue for intercity transportation, and this funding will help the province tackle the issue.
“There’s now an opportunity to deal with those problems, with the pandemic, we’ve seen rises in gender-based violence and domestic violence and when you couple that with not being able to get out of a community and tough situation – that’s terrible,” said Frizzell.
Additionally, he stated that investing in transit creates jobs, shortens commutes, reduces emissions and supports economic growth across the country, which is imperative to Canada’s economic recovery plan.
While the details surrounding allocation and distribution of the funding is still up in the air, Frizzell explained that government officials have expressed interest in investing in zero-emission vehicles.