The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[Nouvellecosse]

How frequent is the service on the Mont-St. Hilare route?

[Innsertnamehere]

Metrolinx supports 1% sales tax. 15% hike in development fees, 5 cents a litre gas tax, and 25 cents a spot per day parking charge for non residential properties. Talks of having it approach the legislature for a vote before next spring.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toro...osed-to-pay-for-transit/article12164246/

[manny_santos]

The way the Metrolink tax proposal is worded, it sounds as though all of us in Windsor, London, Kingston, Ottawa, Sudbury, and Thunder Bay will be asked to pay more taxes to help the GTA boost public transit. This could kill the remaining Liberal party support outside the GTA.

I'd like to hear Tim Hudak's take on this idea.

[vid]

What would money collected outside the GTA go towards?

[MTLskyline]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

How frequent is the service on the Mont-St. Hilare route?

7 inbound and 7 outbound departures on weekdays only. Almost all of them are during the morning and evening rush hours.
http://www.amt.qc.ca/Train_Ligne_Horaire.aspx?id=154&LangType=1033

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by vid

What would money collected outside the GTA go towards?

I have heard two things,

1. The money is refunded through tax breaks
2. The money is spent on local infrastructure plans.

[manny_santos]

My opinion: The sources of funding need to come from within the GTHA, and not on the backs of the rest of Ontario - unless we get something in return.

To me, taking money from the rest of Ontario to benefit Toronto without giving the rest of Ontario something in return is a slap in the face to other cities struggling with transportation issues. The municipalities that benefit should be paying for it, and if they need to levy a municipal sales tax to raise the funds, so be it. Toronto's public transportation issues are not my problem as a resident of Eastern Ontario, any more than Montreal's transportation issues. How would Toronto like it if the federal government raised taxes nationwide merely to pay for a rail link between Calgary and Edmonton?

On the other hand, if such a tax hike were used to invest in public transit throughout Ontario, I'd be more likely to be in favour of the idea.

[Innsertnamehere]

Yep, no one is planning to take money from the rest of Ontario to spend in toronto. There seems to be unneccessary confusion over this.

[TownGuy]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

My opinion: The sources of funding need to come from within the GTHA, and not on the backs of the rest of Ontario - unless we get something in return.

To me, taking money from the rest of Ontario to benefit Toronto without giving the rest of Ontario something in return is a slap in the face to other cities struggling with transportation issues. The municipalities that benefit should be paying for it, and if they need to levy a municipal sales tax to raise the funds, so be it. Toronto's public transportation issues are not my problem as a resident of Eastern Ontario, any more than Montreal's transportation issues. How would Toronto like it if the federal government raised taxes nationwide merely to pay for a rail link between Calgary and Edmonton?

On the other hand, if such a tax hike were used to invest in public transit throughout Ontario, I'd be more likely to be in favour of the idea.

Man I'm getting tired of hearing this type of opinion. If you want to play by those rules lets how Eastern Ontario fairs without the revenue created in the GTA.

There's so many people complaining right now who live in butt f**k nowhere who don't realize the roles are actually reversed...the GTA is generally the one that gets slapped in the face funding roads, hospitals and schools across the whole province.

I don't even live in the GTA myself BTW....

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by TownGuy

Man I'm getting tired of hearing this type of opinion. If you want to play by those rules lets how Eastern Ontario fairs without the revenue created in the GTA.

There's so many people complaining right now who live in butt f**k nowhere who don't realize the roles are actually reversed...the GTA is generally the one that gets slapped in the face funding roads, hospitals and schools across the whole province.

I don't even live in the GTA myself BTW....

I hardly call Ottawa butt f**k nowhere.

[Innsertnamehere]

Yep. Rural townships are often in much better condition for infrastructure than the cities. I real townships, a bad road will usually be replaced in 5 years. Bad roads in the city on the other hand can crumble for 20 before they are replaced, and certain infrastructure peices can actually start to fall apart before being replaced. (Gardiner caugh caugh)

[vid]

I wouldn't mind if it went toward infrastructure improvements. There are only three pieces left in the puzzle to complete Thunder Bay's arterial road network, and if they were in place, it would greatly improve the efficiency of our transit system as well. We've had to undertake a massive road upgrade project entirely on our own this year because the province wouldn't invest money but it still had to be done.

[TownGuy]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

I hardly call Ottawa butt f**k nowhere.

I wasn't directing that part at you.

The bottomline is no matter where you live in Ontario youre better off because of the GTA not the opposite. A functional transit system in the GTA will benefit the whole province indirectly.

[SteelTown]

Awhile back I remember hearing Premier Wynne may make non Metrolinx members use the 1% revenue from HST towards infrastructure.

I've also heard there's an opt out option.

[kwoldtimer]

Be real people. This minority government will not raise the HST for transit or any other purpose. Unless they are intent on the high jump.

[kwoldtimer]

In other news, the Region of Waterloo today approved issuing a request for proposals to build the Kitchener-Waterloo light rail transit line.

http://www.therecord.com/news/local/arti...-s-call-for-light-rail-transit-proposals

[Innsertnamehere]

In the end I have a feeling the NDP will mandate that the HST increase be changed to a corporate tax increase in condition of support. I would expect the others to stay, but that wouldn't surprise me. Remember that the metrolinx taxes are only recommendations, and I the end it will likely be the NDP who are choosing them as they are the ones who are holding the Liberals by the balls right now.

[caltrane74]

Don't forget Toronto takes all the butt f**k poor people from nowheresville Ontario.

Alls Fair in Love and War.

And I doubt the sales tax collected outside the GTA will be spent inside of it.

[vid]

That would be a nice turnaround considering the NDP so viciously attacked the HST in the first place! "We hate this tax! But increase it!"

[ssiguy]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

My opinion: The sources of funding need to come from within the GTHA, and not on the backs of the rest of Ontario - unless we get something in return.

To me, taking money from the rest of Ontario to benefit Toronto without giving the rest of Ontario something in return is a slap in the face to other cities struggling with transportation issues. The municipalities that benefit should be paying for it, and if they need to levy a municipal sales tax to raise the funds, so be it. Toronto's public transportation issues are not my problem as a resident of Eastern Ontario, any more than Montreal's transportation issues. How would Toronto like it if the federal government raised taxes nationwide merely to pay for a rail link between Calgary and Edmonton?

On the other hand, if such a tax hike were used to invest in public transit throughout Ontario, I'd be more likely to be in favour of the idea.

I agree completely.

Toronto is already getting $16 billion for transit from Queen's Park {meaning all Ontarians} and anything extra should be raised in Toronto.

Although Toronto loves to cry poor me and wallow about in a pool of emotion, it does much better than most of Ontario. Being the capitol is gets a VERY disproportional amount o high paying and secure government jobs, government contracts, cultural spending, and, believe it or not, transit spending.

When Harris downloaded Kings highways onto the local municipalities it was the small towns and low density counties that paid the price. It hurt those areas far more than Toronto or the other large cities. The welfare costs hurt the big cities more but much of those costs have since been "uploaded" back on to Queen's Park's tab.

If the tax was to be province wide then all areas should receive the amount they contribute with strings attached that it be spent on transportation with a certain percentage allocated for transit depending on how large the city is.