Once Ontario’s books are balanced, a Progressive Conservative government will be eager to fund whatever projects Ottawa believes will “break gridlock,” Tory leader Tim Hudak said Monday morning.
It’s Hudak’s second trip to Ottawa in a week, necessitated by his having said last time that there’s simply no money for a second phase of light-rail construction, the centrepiece of Ottawa’s transportation plans for the next 15 years. The city needs $1 billion from the province to make it work, and Hudak said plainly last week that if he leads the government after Thursday’s election, he won’t supply it.
Monday’s message wasn’t quite the total support of “Phase 2″ that the Liberals and the New Democrats have offered, but it was very different from what Hudak said last week.
The fact four currently Liberal ridings the Tories would like to take away — Ottawa West-Nepean, Ottawa South, Ottawa-Orléans and Glengarry-Prescott Russell — would benefit from the next phase of rail is doubtless a factor.
“Ottawa will get its fair share,” Hudak said. “Ottawa is a major city.”
The Tory leader pledged to continue provincial funding for the first phase of light rail, which is now under construction — the province’s $600-million share of that $2.1-billion project has been firmly pledged for years but the money actually moves in stages, so in theory a new government could halt it. He also promised to fix the often-clogged split where Highway 417 and Highway 174 to Orléans meet (also work that’s underway right now).
And he repeated a promise to upload Highway 174, which was built as a provincial highway but forcibly given to the City of Ottawa in the late 1990s as a provincial budget-saving move under Tory premier Mike Harris. The Liberal government in power since 2003 has refused to take it back, despite requests from the city.
More to come.
dreevely@ottawacitizen.com
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