Nothing New from the
Conservatives when it comes to Toronto Transit
Initiatives
March 18, 2008 Toronto - The
day after crushing electoral defeats in two
Ontario by-elections, the
Harper government is trying to recover by
re-announcing $350 million in
Liberal funding for the Toronto Transit
Commission, Jim Karygiannis
said today.
"This is money that was
guaranteed to the City of Toronto in 2004 and
delayed by two years by this
government," said Mr. Karygiannis. " I was
there as the Parliamentary
Secretary for the Minister of Transport when
Prime Minister Paul Martin
made the announcement. Harper and the
Conservatives clearly have
nothing new to offer the citizens of Toronto."
On March 30th, 2004, Prime
Minister Paul Martin announced a $1-billion,
five-year investment in the
Toronto transit system. The federal
government's $350-million
share was to be paid from the Canada Strategic
Infrastructure Fund over five
years. The government delayed payment of
this commitment for over two
years despite being obliged to provide the
money. Today, Conservative
Cabinet Ministers Jim Flaherty and Lawrence
Cannon held a press
conference in Toronto to announce delivery of the
final payment of this
five-year investment.
"The fact is the
Conservatives don't have any new policies that will
benefit Canadian cities and
communities so they have to re-announce
Liberal initiatives in order
to make themselves look good," said Mr.
Karygiannis.
"The people of Toronto
needed that money long time ago in order to
upgrade
and invest in our transit
system and Stephen and the gang sat on it in
order to re-introduce it two
years latter." added Jim Karygiannis.
