Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be in the House again to answer a question by my hon. colleague across the way.
Investments in public transit by our Conservative government have reached unprecedented levels since 2006. Through the building Canada plan and the economic action plan, our government is supporting infrastructure priorities in communities across the country.
Our government has been very clear that we will continue to be a supportive partner of our cities but we know that municipalities are best situated to identify their needs and assess their infrastructure priorities. We will not infringe on provincial or municipal jurisdiction and begin telling our cities what their local infrastructure priorities are. Instead, we will provide predictable and long-term investments for municipalities to use for their own planning and priorities.
In the greater Toronto area, these investments are supporting significant undertakings that are contributing to economic growth and strong communities and that will provide residents and commuters with improved transit options.
An example is the extension of the Spadina subway line north from Downsview Station to the Vaughan Corporate Centre in York region. This 8.6 kilometre expansion will include six subway stations, including a station at York University and a station to provide connections to GO train services. The construction is already under way for this project that benefits from a federal funding contribution of up to $697 million. The building Canada fund commitment for this project is, by far, the largest contribution to a single project.
A second example is the important revitalization project under way for Union Station. Supported by a federal commitment of up to $133 million, this project comprises a series of improvements such as enhancing pedestrian circulation and concourse capacity, maintaining the heritage aspects of the station and extending downtown Toronto's underground pedestrian network.
Those are only two examples. The cornerstone program of the economic action plan, that $4 billion of infrastructure stimulus fund, supported a total of 32 public transit projects in the GTA with federal investments of more than $100 million.
Examples of projects include work at the Dufferin Station as part of Toronto's subway station modernization program and the expansion of the Burlington's transit operations centre. In total, the federal commitment toward the expansion and renewal of public transit infrastructure in the GTA is an amount of over $1.36 billion.
This government also understands the importance of having a predictable source of infrastructure funding that municipalities can count on now and in the future. As such, the gas tax fund is now a permanent source of long-term sustainable funding providing annual funding of $2 billion to Canadian municipalities. Since 2006, the municipalities of the GTA have used close to $700 million of their federal gas tax fund allocation toward transit investments.
Taken together, these federal investments represent unprecedented support for our provincial and municipal partners in their efforts to ensure residents of the GTA have safe, reliable and efficient public transit. I would hope that the member across the way would take this into consideration as he talks about the commitment made by this government because it truly is unprecedented and deserves at least a little bit of credit from the member opposite.