Feds announce Ottawa will get $180 million over 10 years for transit

Transit committee chair Glen Gower said any money for transit is a welcome investment.

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Published Jan 27, 2025 • Last updated Jan 28, 2025 • 2 minute read

OC Transpo is facing a $120-million operating deficit in 2025. The city will receive a total of $18 million per year in federal funding for transit from 2026 until 2036. Photo by Tony Caldwell /POSTMEDIAOttawa-area Liberal MPs announced Monday the city would receive more than $200 million in funding for transit, housing and homelessness.

That includes $180 million over 10 years for OC Transpo, something Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said would go a long way in “closing the gap” in the city’s transit budget.

The city will receive a total of $18 million per year from 2026 until 2036, said Kanata-Carleton MP Jenna Sudds, minister of families, children and social development.

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The funding is conditional on the city submitting a capital plan and a funding agreement. The cash comes from the federal government’s Canada Public Transit Fund.

The money, Sudds said, will “give the city predictability for transit and to relieve some pressures.”

Sutcliffe has been on a “Fairness for Ottawa” public campaign, asking for more transit funding from the federal and Ontario governments, saying the city has been short-changed.

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe is flanked by city councillors and Ottawa-area MPs on Monday, Jan. 27, 2025, at the Corso Italia Station. The federal government announced the city will receive more than $200 million in funding for transit, housing and homelessness. Photo by Marlo Glass /PostmediaTo that end, the city has struck a working group with local MPs “to collaborate on the big things and little things,” including revitalizing downtown Ottawa and the ByWard Market.

Sudds, a former city councillor, said the federal government didn’t cover transit operating costs. She said that was the province’s responsibility.

Still, though, Sutcliffe said the stability of $18 million in federal cash per year for 10 years means money earmarked for other projects can be used to cover other budget line items.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s applied explicitly to operating funds or it’s applied in a way that covers expenses that we have that we had budgeted for,” he said. “We’ll be able to move money around in our budget in order to close that gap.”

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The gap in the transit budget was pegged this year at $120 million, he said, and then $140 million in 2026 and $140 million the year after that.

“That budget gap was made up of a number of different elements, including operating funds, capital funds, other projects that we’re embarking on,” Sutcliffe told reporters at the Corso Italia train station that recently opened to the public. “So when we receive funds like this from the federal government, frankly, cash is cash.”

Transit committee chair Glen Gower said any money for transit was a welcome investment.

Permanent funding, he said, is something transit agencies across Canada have asked for, in order to maintain a level of predictability with funding.

He said the funding could be used for fleet renewal, new Para Transpo vehicles, new bus shelters and more.

“If we have federal funding that we can put toward that, well, maybe that money can be repurposed into another part of the budget, so it becomes an accounting exercise,” Gower said.

Sudds indicated the city would also receive approximately $40 million for housing and homelessness initiatives.

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In a news release the following day, Sudds announced the city was paying more than $24 million, while the federal government will provide more than $10.4 million, over two years to implement the city’s “Community Encampments Response Plan,: including a 24-hour respite site.

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