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Feds to contribute $663M for Metro Vancouver transit infrastructure over 10 years

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 27 Jan, 2025 12:39 PM

The federal government says it's kicking in more than $663 million in funding for Metro Vancouver transit infrastructure over the next decade, beginning next year.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says in a statement the funding is coming from the federal government's Canada Public Transit Fund, which was announced in 2024.

Wilkinson was to announce the funding in North Vancouver with members of the TransLink Mayor's Council and TransLink's chief executive officer, Kevin Quinn.

A statement from regional transit operator TransLink and the federal government says the money will be handed out from 2026 through 2036, targeting "key improvements" to public transit in the face of "rapid population growth."

It says the funding will allow TransLink to improve existing transit infrastructure, and Quinn says in the statement that the funding will go toward a "much-needed transit expansion in Metro Vancouver."

The Canada Public Transit Fund, announced by the Trudeau government last year, is set to start doling out $3 billion a year beginning in 2026, aimed at both public transit and so-called active transportation infrastructure.

The federal government says the fund is "the largest public transit investment in Canadian history."

TransLink said in July that it was facing a operational funding gap of about $600 million per year to maintain services at current levels, and that without it being addressed all transit services would face "significant cuts."

Four months earlier, the B.C. government had given TransLink an injection of $479 million in provincial funding to maintain services and fares.

Wilkinson was representing Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Nathaniel Erskine-Smith at Monday's announcement.

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