City requests $600M from province, feds

The City of Ottawa has officially made requests to the federal and provincial governments to each agree in principle to funding one-third of the first phase of the city's transit plan, estimated to be $1.83B in total. That would be about $600M from each level, plus about the same from the city itself. Transport Minister John Baird reiterated that the $200M in federal funding already promised for the city's now-cancelled north-south rail line is still on the table, and also said they'd double that amount to try and be a "major funding partner." The Ontario Government has also stated that the $200M they'd promised is also still available, but it's unclear whether or not each level is willing to ante up the full $600M for the City's plan.

From the Ottawa Sun:

The first phase of the city master transportation plan would include a downtown tunnel and LRT to Tunney's Pasture from Blair Station; a new bridge over the Rideau River that would link South Nepean to Riverside South; the Cumberland Transitway to Navan Rd. from Blair station; the west Transitway to Bayshore from Moodie; the southwest Transitway to the Barrhaven Town Centre from the Fallowfield park and ride.

On Rogers 22's Talk Ottawa on March 16, 2009, councillors Marianne Wilkinson and Alex Cullen suggested that if the other levels of government were unable or unwilling to cover the full one-third of the project cost, the city would look at cutting some parts of the first phase to ensure equal investment from the municipal, provincial, and federal governments. Both also suggested that some of the parts of the first phase, including the west Transitway from Moodie to Bayshore, may qualify for funding under the federal government's infrastructure investment package.