This past week, Caroline Mulroney, Minister of Transportation, announced the province will be investing $365.3 million to expand and improve local transportation across Ontario.
111 municipalities will share this year’s Gas Tax program benefits to improve public transit in 148 communities across the province – the most municipalities in the program’s history – including Kingston, which is slated to receive $3,170,746.
“Investing in public transit is part of our plan to get Ontario moving,” said Minister Mulroney. “From transit investment in the Greater Golden Horseshoe to adding more service in rural and northern communities – our government is committed to improving transit in every corner of the province.”
According to an Ontario government release, Gas Tax funding can be used to ‘upgrade infrastructure, increase accessibility, purchase transit vehicles, add more routes and extend hours of service. This is in addition to the regional transportation plans Ontario is developing to help fight gridlock, improve outdated infrastructure and keep goods and services moving across the province.‘
“Ontario’s Gas Tax program is a long-term source of transit funding that municipalities can count on,” states a government release. “The program provides stable and predictable transit funding for Ontario municipalities by providing two cents per litre of provincial gas tax to improve and expand transit.”
Funds from the Gas Tax program – which provides two cents per litre of provincial gas tax to improve and expand transit – is in addition to the regional transportation plans Ontario is developing to help fight gridlock, improve outdated infrastructure and keep goods and services moving across the province.
In addition to Kingston receiving $3,170,746 from the 2019-20 Gas Tax Fund, other nearby municipalities receiving investment include Belleville ($797,370), Brockville ($215,771), Loyalist Township ($183,820), and Prince Edward County ($82,220).
See a full list of municipalities receiving 2019-20 Gas Tax funding
Photo (cropped): Wikimedia Commons (cc)
