Mayors ask feds to ensure provinces offer more cash for transit projects
OTTAWA — The mayors of Canada’s biggest cities are asking the federal government to prod their provincial counterparts to pony up more cash for transit projects.
In a letter sent this week to Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi, the head of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ big-city mayors’ caucus asks the Liberals to make sure that provinces match federal funding for transit projects, so as not to saddle cities with more costs.
The mayors want federal and provincial governments to cover 80 per cent of eligible project costs, leaving cities to cover the remaining portion, which is more than the traditional three-way funding split in many existing infrastructure programs.
The arrangement, the letter says, would “drive future projects forward” and ease the financial burden on cities who cover maintenance costs as well.