Mr. Speaker, in Toronto, people are waiting on buses that take forever, waiting on platforms for the morning train that will arrive already full. But before relief comes for the public, billions will go to the one-in-ten families eligible for income-splitting, hundreds of millions will be sheltered by those who have money enough to shelter.
When new federal funding for transit finally arrives, Toronto's share will be a small package wrapped in red tape, enough to put a few buses on the road or perhaps a boring machine in the ground, but not both. Transit under-investment in Toronto has been costly to date and without consideration for the future of a city region expected to grow by 2.5 million people and add 1.5 million jobs over the next decade and a half.
My city is a globally relevant city with great potential not just for itself and those who live there, but for all of Canada and yet, nowhere to be found in the city of Toronto is the Government of Canada. That has to change if Toronto is to become all that Toronto should be.