BC’s federal budget wish list heavy on transit funding
Posted March 21, 2017 2:05 pm.
Last Updated March 22, 2017 6:55 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The BC government is expecting at least $2 billion from Wednesday’s federal budget to help pay for more transit upgrades.
“It’ll become obvious,” says Peter Fassbender, the minister responsible for Translink. “A lot of hard work is going on even before the federal budget defining what the projects are.”
Fassbender says all the numbers haven’t been crunched, but he admits the price tag for Phase 2 of Metro Vancouver’s three-part, 10-year plan is expected to top $6 billion.
“We’ve committed to our one-third on the three major ones in the Lower Mainland, Broadway south of the Fraser and Surrey out to Langley within the city and then, the Pattullo replacement… we need as much as Ottawa wants to give us. I anticipate it will be upwards of $2 billion, but until they actually release the number, it’s difficult for me to speculate.”
NDP Leader John Horgan has already promised to raise BC’s commitment from 33 per cent to 40 if the New Democrats win the May 9th election.
