Ontario could receive $1 billion in transit funding under the federal government’s “safe restart” agreement with provinces battling COVID-19, the Star has learned.
Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna is expected to announce Ottawa will match up to $1.8 billion of provincial and territorial funding “to support local public transit” in the provinces, according to documents reviewed by the Star.
The transit funding is part of the $19-billion package announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week to help provinces reopen their economies during COVID-19.
Ontario’s share of that available funding is $1 billion, according to documents reviewed by the Star. A federal government source told the Star that the total will depend on how much Premier Doug Ford’s government matches the federal contribution, dollar for dollar.
“Essential, front-line workers need good public transit, parents need child care, public health must be able to track and contain disease outbreaks, everyone requires personal protective equipment, and vulnerable communities — including seniors — need enhance support as Canada gradually reopens while containing the spread of COVID-19,” one document reads.
The federal government’s funding announcement last week was welcomed by Mayor John Tory and other GTA mayors and regional chairs, who had been pleading with Ottawa and Queen’s Park to come to an agreement to bail them out of budget shortfalls caused by the pandemic.
In Toronto, city staff have calculated a $1.35-billion shortfall that is largely driven by a loss of $700 million to the TTC.
The TTC is the country’s busiest system, which had been carrying about 1.8 million people on an average weekday. It relies on fare proceeds for about two-thirds of its operating budget, and the pandemic caused its ridership and revenue to almost evaporate overnight. By late April, passenger volumes hit a low of about 14 per cent of normal levels, and the TTC said it was losing more than $20 million a week.
Riders are starting to return as the city and province open up, but municipal staff expect ridership to stay well below pre-crisis levels at least through the fall.
To help deal with its financial crisis, the TTC launched a cost-containment strategy in May that included reducing service to about 85 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, freezing planned wage increases, and deferring new hires. The agency also delayed millions of dollars in planned capital work on the transit system, and announced it would temporarily lay off 1,200 employees. As of last week it had only completed about half of the planned layoffs.
Speaking last week before details of the federal funding were announced, TTC CEO Rick Leary said Ottawa’s promise of financial aid to transit systems was recognition of how important public transportation will be to Canada’s post-COVID economic recovery.
Leary said he hoped the package would be enough to prevent any further layoffs at the TTC and allow the agency to restore pre-crisis service levels.
While the transit funding will come as a relief to cities like Toronto, it’s not clear whether additional conditions attached to the remaining funds will allow the city to make up the remainder of the shortfall.