The big news for the City of Ottawa in the 2017 federal budget is the inclusion of funding for Phase 2 of the city’s LRT project.
According to Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, the federal government is committing $1.15 billion as its share of the estimated $3.6 billion expansion, rounding out the funding required by all three levels of government.
“We just approved our share of the funding a couple of weeks ago, unanimously, at council,” says Watson. “And the Province announced their third of the funding a couple of months ago. So the final piece of the puzzle was in today’s budget"
That funding includes the extra money to run Phase 2 all the way to Trim Road in Ottawa’s east end, and an extension to the Ottawa Airport. The work is expected to start in 2018 and be completed by 2023.
But what appears to be good news for Ottawa transit riders was tempered somewhat by another budget item. The federal government plans to eliminate the Transit Tax Credit as of July 1st. It means you will no longer be able to claim your transit passes on your income tax.
The other budget item that caught Mayor Watson’s interest has to do with affordable housing. The Feds are setting aside $202 million over the next 11 years to make surplus federal lands and buildings available at low or no cost for the development of affordable housing.
"Ottawa, probably on a per capita if not on a real basis, has more federal government land than any other city. So we'll certainly be taking advantage of that," says the Mayor.
