‘There wasn’t a no’ – big city mayors ask Trudeau for new transit funding
Posted January 28, 2019 2:41 pm.
Last Updated January 28, 2019 4:30 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA (NEWS 1130) – Vancouver’s mayor is hopeful the federal government will come through with another big envelope of transit money as the Metro Vancouver Mayor’s Council considers a Skytrain extension from Arbutus to UBC.
Kennedy Stewart joined mayors from across Canada in asking for another 10-year spending commitment from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a Big City Mayors’ Caucus meeting on Monday.
“There wasn’t a no, which is good, I think I’m very encouraged by that,” Stewart says. “This is the first time we’ve raised this with the Prime Minister… he committed to think about it, and the next time we meet, discuss it again.”
The ask comes less than a year after the federal government committed $1.37 billion to build a Broadway subway line in Vancouver and what was then a light rail project in Surrey.
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UBC president Prof. Santa Ono has previously expressed interest in helping to fund a Skytrain extension to the university’s main campus, which a recent staff report to the Mayor’s Council said would cost up to $3.8 billion.
The project still requires a series of approvals, including a technology approval to be discussed next month. Kennedy stresses that he does not yet have a specific dollar figure submit to the Prime Minister.
“This is just to put things on his radar, but I feel confident that once we have a business case developed, then the federal government will be very open to our request for funding,” he says.
Stewart also discussed regional housing and climate change mitigation with Trudeau, though he adds the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion never came up once.
