Federal Minister Navdeep Bains and a host of local and provincial politicians were on hand today at the Brampton Transit Sandalwood Maintenance Facility to announce a new investment of $32.4M for transit infrastructure improvements in the city. Project funding includes:
- $12,450,000 – Sandalwood Facility Maintenance Expansion
- $9,550,000 – Implementation of Zum Airport Road rapid transit corridor
- $6,100,000 – Acquisition of 20 replacement buses
- $2,100,000 – Acquisition of 3Â articulated buses
- $1,261,000 – Acquisition of Automated Vehicle Monitoring System (AVM)
- $1,000,000 – Expansion and replacement
This funding announcement follows a press conference earlier this week where provincial Transportation Minister Stephen Del Duca announced that starting in 2018, municipalities will be eligible for a greater share of the provincial gas tax. The gas tax funding will grow from $10.4M this year to $20.1M by 2021. The Minister was also on hand for today’s announcement and we asked him for an update on the agreement with CN Rail that was announced last June for a bypass between the Bramalea and Milton GO stations to allow for more GO Trains on the Kitchener line. See his response here.
Mayor Linda Jeffrey was on hand for the announcement and said that she has “never seen the alliance of the federal and provincial governments so closely aligned with what municipalities are doing.”
Mr. Bains is Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development. He is a rising star in Canadian politics and is increasingly being referred to as the “Minister of Everything”, a title originally used for the prominent C.D. Howe who served as cabinet minister for 22 years starting in 1935. The Minister also responded to our questions about the university in Brampton and provided encouraging words for the city. See Video Response Here.
In total today, Minister Bains announced $37.8M in federal funding for transit projects in Ontario.
