Holyday asks Ontario Liberals to use own money for transit expansion in GTHA
Posted October 17, 2013 3:59 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO, Ont. – The Conservatives are telling Premier Kathleen Wynne to find money in her own budget to pay for public transit expansion in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.
This comes just as a new study from the Conference Board of Canada finds drivers in the region are paying about 70 to 90 per cent of road infrastructure costs, about $1-billion more than it costs to operate the road network.
The numbers add up to a total of more than $7.5-billion per year, through fuel taxes, vehicle registration fees and tolls.
“[The Liberals] just said ‘oh no. We’re not going to try to make any cuts or any changes or any prioritization, or anything else. We’re just going to jack taxes’,” said Tory critic Doug Holyday, who believes drivers deserve a break.
“That’s always a Liberal answer, and it’s always wrong,” he added. “I’ve always felt too that money that’s supposed to go in certain directions – once it’s in the hands of governments – doesn’t necessarily go that way. They do with it as they see fit.”
However, Holyday and the Tories are supporting the multi-billion dollar Scarborough subway extension plan, which comes with a local tax hike to pay for it.
Premier Wynne has said the province will have to charge drivers new fees to cover the $2-billion in transit upgrades for the GTHA.
Meantime, NDP critic Gilles Bisson says his party agrees transit expansion is needed, but says it should not come on the backs of already overburned workers, and that Wynne’s argument about new fees being needed does not hold water.
