Ottawa’s transit system is facing a $47-million deficit, renewing pressure on the province to follow through on its promise to take over the city’s light rail transit system. During the Ontario provincial election campaign last year, Premier Doug Ford pledged to upload Ottawa’s LRT system to Metrolinx, shifting responsibility for the system from the city to the province. But nearly a year later, there is still no clear timeline for when that takeover will happen. Negotiations between the city and the province began in the fall, after Ottawa City Council directed the city to enter talks with the province. At City Hall on Wednesday, Sutcliffe acknowledged the talks are complicated, adding it would save the city $85 million dollars a year. “This is a gamechanger for the residents of Ottawa and for public transit in our city,” Sutcliffe said. “We’ve had multiple conversations with [the province] recently about moving this forward. I can’t give a timeline at this point, but there’s a willingness on both sides to make progress on this in the near future.” Premier Doug Ford was also in Ottawa on Wednesday but did not provide details on why little progress has been made. “We’re continuing to work with [Mayor Sutcliffe] and we’re going to continue to talk to him,” said Ford. “We’ve made some huge investments for the people of Ottawa and we’re going to continue to invest in the people of Ottawa. I think the last deal is about $700 million dollars, uploading a highway and giving him quite a few other things that they need, and we’ll be there to support them on the LRT as well.” The city needs this deal to address the multi-million-dollar gap in its transit budget. The mayor says he hopes to meet with provincial officials soon to move negotiations forward.
