Editorial
Gas tax fuels enhanced, sustainable transit infrastructure
Mayor Rob Ford, Finance Minister Joe Oliver and AMO President Russ Powers signed a new federal Gas Tax agreement at Hillcrest on July 11, 2014. “The investments we are making will help the TTC meet its current and future ridership demands,” Ford said.
The Honourable Joe Oliver, Minister of Finance, came to Hillcrest on July 11 to announce a new 10-year gas tax agreement that will flow more than $8 billion directly to Ontario municipalities for top infrastructure priorities.
The federal finance minister was joined by Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and Russ Powers, President of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, for a signing ceremony held in the Subway Operations Building.
“The Gas Tax Fund is the largest part of the new Building Canada Plan,” Oliver said. “The agreement signed today will provide stable, predictable funding to help Ontario municipalities build and revitalize public infrastructure while creating jobs, growth and long-term prosperity.”
CEO Andy Byford, who’s part of a joint TTC/City Task Force to lobby all orders of government for long-term and predictable funding, welcomed this announcement.
“This is a massive step forward,” Byford said. “Not only does this announcement make the Gas Tax permanent, it is also being indexed by two per cent per year, which means it will grow and that means we can be certain about the funding coming our way for buying new vehicles. We can now plan with more confidence.”