TORONTO — Cherise Burda, Ontario policy director at the Pembina Institute, made the following comments today on the release of the Toronto Region Board of Trade’s funding recommendations for Metrolinx’s The Big Move regional transit plan:
"The proposal announced today represents a balanced and effective strategy to fund transportation infrastructure and address crippling gridlock in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.
"The Toronto Region Board of Trade should be commended for its bold and pragmatic approach in advancing solutions supported by the business community and the public, which opinion polls show are ahead of their elected leaders on the need to act and make the hard decisions on new revenue tools. It’s now up to Ontario’s Premier and the Minister of Transportation to show the vision and leadership required to act on the advice of the Toronto Region Board of Trade."
"Vancouver, Los Angeles and many other cities throughout North America are implementing plans comparable to the Board of Trade’s proposal with great results — and Toronto’s traffic troubles are worse than these other cities. As the population grows and more cars are added to the region’s roads, the congestion in North America’s fourth-largest city will only get worse over the decades ahead without ambitious action.
“The Big Move is the right plan to move the region forward, and the Board of Trade’s proposal maps out a clear and achievable route to getting there."
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Contact
Cherise Burda
Ontario Policy Director
416-824-0256
Background
Read our joint blog post with Sustainable Prosperity, analyzing the revenue tools proposed today:“Q&A: How the Board of Trade’s transit funding proposal would drive the Toronto region in the right direction”
The Toronto Board of Trade’s discussion paper, A green light to moving the Toronto region: paying for public transportation expansion, is available online.