"Time to increase investments in transit, not costs." – NDP leader

OTTAWA – Federal NDP Leader Jack Layton pledged an investment of $137.9 million over four years for Ottawa’s public transit system today.

Speaking in Ottawa, the NDP leader outlined details of Ottawa’s share of the NDP’s plan to invest in transit through a dedication of one cent per litre of the existing federal excise tax to public transportation, as well as revenues from making the big polluters pay through a cap-and-trade carbon pricing system.

“We welcome the debate on carbon pricing and climate change,” said Layton. “There is no greater crisis facing our planet and our country. Investments in green solutions are desperately needed.”

“For Ottawa alone, our plan to dedicate one cent per litre of the federal gas tax to transit would mean $73.6 million over four years,” said Layton. “And Ottawa’s share of the transit revenue from our cap-and-trade plan would mean an additional $64.3 million over four years.”

This is new money that can be used for various local transit priorities – this could mean things like new vehicles, improved security or lower fares. For example, the NDP investment of $137.9 million over four years is the equivalent of purchasing as many as 324 new buses for Ottawa.

“This transit funding announcement comes at just the right time for the people of Ottawa. The community here is completely supportive of an investment in public transit and this will help make it happen,” said NDP MP Paul Dewar. “While other plans, such as Stéphane Dion’s carbon tax, will increase the costs of providing transit, only our plan will help dramatically reduce those costs.

Layton noted that under the Dion carbon tax, which will increase the cost of each litre of diesel by 7 cents, new costs to provide transit in Ottawa will be significant. With 39 million litres of diesel required annually to operate the city’s existing transit services, the added costs will be as much as $8.2 million over four years.