Premier: no deal for long-term provincial funding for TTC this year
Posted April 12, 2010 6:08 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO, Ont. – Premier Dalton McGuinty said there is no way his government would be able to come up with a long-term funding deal for the Toronto Transit Commission by year’s end.
And although McGuinty did promise he would continue to talk to the city about TTC funding, he said nothing would be settled this year.
Meantime, Toronto Mayor David Miller said if a deal is not reached in 2010, Toronto taxpayers could expect to face a 10 to 12 per cent property tax hike over the next three years.
McGuinty has admitted that Toronto cannot fund the TTC on its own; but, he did not have the answer in terms of how the city would get by.
“[…] They’ll have to find their own way to deal with those kinds of challenges as we have to find our own way to deal with our challenges,” he said.
The Premier added the province is unable to commit to long-term TTC funding while it is dealing with a $21.3-billion provincial deficit.
McGuinty has already come under fire for delaying $4-billion in funding for some major public transit projects in Toronto in last month’s budget to deal with the deficit.
