kEiThZ
Superstar
Lets say the city puts off buying these streetcars two years so it can move up projects that qualify for stimulus knowing full well that in two years time after the stimulus program is over that there will still be some sort of program the federal government is using to fund projects. You would me moving $1.2 billion of LRT spending from the city, province, and federal government to 2011, and moving infrastructure spending in the amount of $1 billion from 2012 to 2009. How is that stimulus?
The city is only committing to buying the streetcars. It will only have to pay when Bombardier delivers. So you are not spending anything right now. Conversely if many of the infrastructure renewal projects that are on the books (and can be started and finished in the next 2 years) are moved up, they will put people to work and stimulate the economy.
And this does not have to mean that Toronto is 'putting off' buying these streetcars. It's Miller that has chosen to play politics with the feds and the streetcar project. He's the one threatening to scupper the deal and using the deadline (which Bombardier is flexible) to try and get the feds to ante up. The feds should pay, of course. But that should be a part of regular transit funding. You shouldn't be using stimulus money fund a streetcar deal that really won't hit its peak until half a decade from now.
I still don't see what the big deal is. The TTC can get a lot of planned projects of the books now with federal and provincial money that it might not otherwise get for these projects. Many of these upgrades will also save the TTC money down the road, again improving the bottom line. I'd be more than willing to see a 1% tax increase over the next decade to pay for the federal portion of the streetcar bill if it means that city manages to leverage 600 million (more than the federal portion of the streetcar purchase) from the feds and the province. The city could be dramatically improved for the 900 million that'll be spent in the next 2 years on infrastructure.