City disappointed there is no new money for OC Transpo in federal, Ontario budgets

A westbound train travels along the Confederation Line of Ottawa's Light Rail System.

Ottawa's interim city manager says the city is "disappointed" that there is no new funding for public transit in neither the federal nor Ontario budgets, and city officials will continue to pursue funding from the upper levels of government to address a gap in transit revenue.

Tuesday's federal budget contained no new money for transit infrastructure or funding to help municipalities operate transit services. The Liberal government budget does say the government will provide an update later this year on plans to provide $3 billion per year in permanent transit funding, starting in 2026.

Last week's Ontario budget also made no mention of funding for municipal transit services.

Speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Wendy Stephanson said the COVID-19 pandemic has "disproportionately affected" the city of Ottawa and funding is needed to help the city move forward.

"I would suggest that we are disappointed with respect to both budgets that were tabled and the lack of announcement in those," Stephanson said.

"When you look at our transit service here in the city of Ottawa, we have been disproportionately affected in terms of what's happened to our ridership, the return to our downtown core – whether it be private companies or the federal government, it's affected us.

"We know we have a gap but we are going to continue to pursue the money from other levels of government and seek that assistance."

The 2023 OC Transpo budget is projecting a $39 million deficit, with staff hoping the upper levels of government would provide funding to cover transit deficits.

"For the next while, we do have a mitigation plan in place, but we need to have those necessary conversations because it's not just going to affect the city for (2023), it's likely to affect us beyond that," Stephanson said.

"We need to look at that gap before the federal funding comes in for that permanent funding they've talked about in 2026."

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe says the city's "priorities remain working towards sustainable long-term funding solutions" for transit and other issues.

"Due to the financial pressures facing municipalities, it has never been more important to build on the collaborative relationship that exists with upper levels of government and to find new opportunities that will generate mutual benefits," Sutcliffe said in a statement to CTV News Ottawa on Wednesday.

In December, the city of Ottawa received $63.3 million under stage 4 of the Safe Restart Agreement to cover transit costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic. A report for next week's finance and corporate services committee meeting says the city will receive an additional $7.48 million to offset fare revenue lost during the pandemic.