The provincial budget is going to be released in several weeks. Functional Transit Winnipeg has put together an email you can use to contact your MLA to let them know you would like to see the province match municipal funding for operating our transit network. Good public transit is good provincial policy.
Until last year, the province had legislation requiring them to match transit funding with any municipal government that ran a transit agency. In November, 2017, the government repealed this legislation and announced a freeze in transit funding at 2016 levels. The city had been expecting to receive approximately $50 million in 2017, but instead the province contributed $42 million. The province has not indicated that it will lift the freeze this year, allowing inflation to further eat away at its funding for transit.
Provincial funding was in place to incentivize contributions from municipalities to their transit networks. Because the city did not use this funding effectively, it left itself vulnerable to cuts, and the price is being paid by transit riders through the 25 cent fare hike.
If the province matched the City of Winnipeg’s $60 million contribution to operating transit, the province’s total financial commitment would represent about 0.4% of the province’s overall budget.
For comparison: in 2017, the Province of Ontario promised to spend $4.8 billion on transit projects in the Toronto area. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, the Alberta government committed to contributing $180 million per year over the next eight years ($1.5 billion total) for the Green Line in Calgary. While these projects represent spending on capital transit projects, in Manitoba provincial funding for operating transit has been the norm for decades.
To place the Alberta funding in context: In Manitoba, $180 million represents the entire one-time provincial contribution to the Southwest Corridor and it was committed several years ago.
Appropriate provincial funding for transit would reduce infrastructure wear-and-tear, reduce our carbon footprint, lower road congestion and improve overall health of Winnipeggers. Better transit connects those who lack access to other modes of transportation to important destinations and reduces social isolation.
The provincial government has just signed on to the Pan Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change and as a result will be receiving millions from the federal government to address climate change. Let you MLA know that investing in public transit should be a key priority. Good public transit is good policy.