Question Period Note: Public Transit Funding

• The government recognizes the concerns raised by municipalities regarding operational fiscal pressures, and continues to work closely with local, provincial, territorial, and Indigenous partners to minimize the impacts of COVID-19.
• The federal government has provided 8 out of every 10 dollars of direct governmental support to fight COVID-19.
• This includes nearly $20 billion through the Safe Restart Agreement announced in July 2020 to help provinces and territories safely restart their economies and make our country more resilient to the impacts of the virus.
• The Safe Restart Agreement included $2 billion to support municipalities with COVID-19 operating costs and an additional $2.4 billion to support public transit.
• In addition, in February 2021, the federal government announced $14.9 billion for public transit projects over the next eight years, which includes permanent funding of $3 billion per year beginning in 2026-27.
• This funding will support new transit projects and will provide cities and communities with the predictable transit funding they need to plan for the future.

• Transit agencies are gradually recovering from the initial COVID related shock on transit ridership and revenue. After an initial decline of 84 percent in 2020, revenues from ridership in August 2021 were still 56 percent below their August 2019 levels.
• The decline in ridership has been most pronounced in large cities with many office workers able to work from home throughout the pandemic. Transit systems have also faced pressures to maintain service levels to ensure frontline workers and others who rely heavily on transit could continue to use the service.
Permanent Public Transit Fund :
• Since 2015, the Government of Canada has invested more than $13 billion in public transit projects through the Public Transit Infrastructure Fund, the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program and the Canada Infrastructure Bank. These historic investments in public transit have resulted in over 1,300 projects across the country.
• Building on these investments, in February 2021, the government announced $14.9 billion for public transit projects over the next eight years, which includes permanent funding of $3 billion per year beginning in 2026-27.
• In the short term, this includes funding to accelerate ambitious public transit projects and planning, support zero-emissions transit, support Canada’s first ever National Active Transportation Strategy, and help to identify and create transit solutions for rural, remote, and Indigenous communities.
• Over the coming months, Infrastructure Canada will work with provinces, territories, municipalities, local governments, Indigenous communities, transit agencies, policy experts and other stakeholders to develop programming for the $3 billion in permanent public transit funding in a manner that offers the greatest benefits to Canadians and Canadian communities.
Safe Restart Agreement (SRA) :
• Under the Safe Restart Agreement announced on July 16, 2020, the Government invested nearly $20 billion to help provinces and territories safely restart their economies and make the country more resilient to the impacts of the virus.
• This includes $2 billion to support municipalities with COVID-19 operating costs for the next six to eight months and an additional $2.4 billion to support public transit. This funding is helping municipalities put in place precautions for public spaces and essential services, like public transit, in order to reduce the spread of the virus. Provinces and territories were required to match federal funding for both streams. For the transit stream, all but NB, PEI and the territories participated.

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