Housing and Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson confirmed Thursday that the Canada Public Transit Fund’s budget is being cut to $25-billion from $30-billion.PATRICK DOYLE/The Canadian Press
Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson confirmed that the federal government is cutting $5-billion over 10 years to Ottawa’s key transfer program for municipal transit, but he says cities now have access to other funds as well.
Mr. Robertson, whose full title is Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, made the comments Thursday on Parliament Hill in response to questions about concerns from big-city mayors that the program is being cut.
The Canada Public Transit Fund was first announced in 2024 and promised to deliver $3-billion per year to municipalities for transit, starting in the 2026-27 fiscal year.
The Globe and Mail reported Wednesday that the Federation of Canadian Municipalities is speaking out after learning in private meetings that the CPTF’s 10-year budget will be reduced by $5-billion.
Mr. Robertson verified that figure for the first time Thursday.
“The Canada Public Transit Fund does go from thirty to twenty-five billion in the budget. That is guaranteed funding that is available to cities for public transit. And in addition to that, we have tens of billions more that’s accessible through the Build Communities Strong Fund,” he told reporters. “So that combination enables some more flexibility and more project-based funding.”
Mr. Robertson was referencing a new $51-billion fund, which was announced in the Nov. 4 budget and primarily involves existing programs that are being renamed and reprofiled.
The transit fund remains as a separate program.
The budget included vague wording indicating that a portion of the CPTF would be reallocated to the new larger fund, but no dollar figure was mentioned.
The FCM has expressed concern that the larger new fund is not specifically for transit or for municipalities, meaning cities will need to compete for funds with provincial and territorial governments who can apply for other types of infrastructure funding such as construction related to hospitals or colleges and universities.
The federal government switched last year to releasing the annual budget in the fall rather than the spring, saying the new timing would help provinces and municipalities plan better for construction seasons.
Yet three months after the Nov. 4 budget was released, mayors said it is not yet clear when the new infrastructure programs will be ready.
Canada’s big-city mayors and FCM officials are gathered in Ottawa this week. They met Wednesday evening with Prime Minister Mark Carney, and their Thursday agenda included a meeting with Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne.
Speaking with reporters Thursday, three of the mayors – Quebec City’s Bruno Marchand, London’s Josh Morgan and Ottawa’s Mark Sutcliffe – said their message to Ottawa is to get this year’s funding flowing as quickly as possible.
Mr. Marchand said it was good to hear Mr. Carney tell the mayors that he shares their sense of urgency.
“We can’t build 12 months of the year. We have to live with winter,” he said. “The Prime Minister understood yesterday that we’re in a window of about eight to 10 weeks where we need these programs to be in place and for the money to flow.”
Mr. Sutcliffe agreed, saying speed is more important than debating the size of a 10-year transit fund.
“I don’t think we need to dwell on the total amount of the program at this point,” he said. “There will be federal budget updates and there’ll be nine more federal budgets before that money is all deployed. I think the critical thing is, how quickly can we get some of that money moving?”
John Di Nino, President of Amalgamated Transit Union Canada, which represents transit workers, said the minister’s confirmation of the cut is extremely concerning.
“They can sugarcoat it any way they want, but it is a $5-billion cut to the transit portfolio,” he said in an interview Thursday. “This is absolutely a broken promise.”