The MPP for London-Fanshawe is turning up the heat on the Wynne government on the issue of funding for rapid transit.
During Question Period at the Ontario Legislature on Wednesday, Teresa Armstrong demanded the province include funding for London's rapid transit plans in the upcoming budget.
“London is the largest city in Canada without a rapid transit system," said Armstrong. "London is ready to put its money on the table. But the City needs a provincial funding partner.”
Armstrong pointed out that she had met with the London delegation, which included Mayor Matt Brown, at this week's Ontario Good Roads Association/Rural Ontario Municipal Association Conference. She says she was told by the delegation that it had not yet received from the government an answer to the city's request for 33% provincial funding.
"Will this week’s budget include funding for this important rapid transit project?” Armstrong asked Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca.
The minister responded that he also met with the London delegation and informed Mayor Brown and members of council that it's too soon to approve specific funding.
"What I explained to them was that we look forward to receiving their detailed business case. I understand that the municipality is planning to provide that to us in the next few weeks," said Del Duca. "We will take that business case. We will do the same analysis of that business case that we do with any of the other transit cases that we receive."
But Armstrong believes the province has been given enough information from the city to make a decision.
"The government is already doing a lot of infrastructure projects. They've already committed the pot of money, so to speak, for those infrastructure projects," Armstrong tells BlackburnNews.com "From what I heard from the London delegation was that they approached the Minister and, from what I gather, the information was revealed to allow the Minister to make a decision on whether or not they would be looking at allocating that funding for rapid transit."
During a visit to London last Friday, Premier Wynne was vague when asked about provincial funding for London's rapid transit plans.
“It certainly is on the radar of the Minister of Transportation and the Minister of Infrastructure and I believe it is a live discussion in London right now in terms of putting a business case together,” said Wynne. “We are committed to working with communities on local transit solutions.”
The budget will be delivered Thursday.
Watch the Armstong-Del Duca exchange below.
[video poster="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Q4_Armstrong_16-02-24-mp4-image.jpg" width="1440" height="1080" mp4="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Q4_Armstrong_16-02-24.mp4"][/video]