The Ottawa region should have had a regional transit system, essentially GO Transit in Ottawa and area, decades ago. It’s appalling that our capital city is so neglected by the federal and provincial governments. Whatever it takes to make this happen should be done, even if that means the Ottawa area separates from Ontario to become a distinct district/territory that deals directly with the federal government. Ottawa and eastern Ontario in general have suffered under decades of neglect from conservative and liberal provincial governments. Change must happen, and soon.
Thanks Toon. Whether the transit is by GO Train or subway or LRT or bus, it’s all about providing mobility via mass transit. So IMHO it’s fair to compare the funding between the two regions, as the Financial Accountability Office has chosen to do. 👍
This isn't entirely accurate. Toronto received more funding but the chart shows funding to provincial agencies (light blue) of which Ottawa is showing as having a very small number whereas Toronto has a far larger amount because of the GO network which likely accounts for the provincial funding that covers Hamilton/Niagara, KW and Barrie etc. all served by GO networks. A better comparison that is more accurate is to compare the dark blue lines which show (by drawing a line across the chart) that Toronto (municipally) receives about the same funding, per capita, as Ottawa (slightly more). So unless we want to start asking for a GO train system to provide transit to connect Smiths Falls, Morrisburg, Arnprior, Rockland, Casselman etc we should be comparing like for like.
For the record, I think that our LRT is the wrong choice as it is: we would be better served with a heavy rail, GO-network sort of system connecting Kanata, Barrhaven, Orleans and, yes, points outside the City boundary that the connected to an LRT system strictly inside the Greenbelt, serving the greatest population on the smallest land (51% of population lives inside Greenbelt on 12% of the land, generating 56% of the property taxes) where an LRT better serves denser populations. Our choice to send the LRT out past miles of greenspace to low density suburbs (and, as part of the P3, spend hundreds of millions to replace highway bridges and widen roads) is a costly mistake future generations will curse us for making.
The Ottawa region should have had a regional transit system, essentially GO Transit in Ottawa and area, decades ago. It’s appalling that our capital city is so neglected by the federal and provincial governments. Whatever it takes to make this happen should be done, even if that means the Ottawa area separates from Ontario to become a distinct district/territory that deals directly with the federal government. Ottawa and eastern Ontario in general have suffered under decades of neglect from conservative and liberal provincial governments. Change must happen, and soon.
Thanks Sean for your feedback!
Thanks Toon. Whether the transit is by GO Train or subway or LRT or bus, it’s all about providing mobility via mass transit. So IMHO it’s fair to compare the funding between the two regions, as the Financial Accountability Office has chosen to do. 👍
Hi
This isn't entirely accurate. Toronto received more funding but the chart shows funding to provincial agencies (light blue) of which Ottawa is showing as having a very small number whereas Toronto has a far larger amount because of the GO network which likely accounts for the provincial funding that covers Hamilton/Niagara, KW and Barrie etc. all served by GO networks. A better comparison that is more accurate is to compare the dark blue lines which show (by drawing a line across the chart) that Toronto (municipally) receives about the same funding, per capita, as Ottawa (slightly more). So unless we want to start asking for a GO train system to provide transit to connect Smiths Falls, Morrisburg, Arnprior, Rockland, Casselman etc we should be comparing like for like.
For the record, I think that our LRT is the wrong choice as it is: we would be better served with a heavy rail, GO-network sort of system connecting Kanata, Barrhaven, Orleans and, yes, points outside the City boundary that the connected to an LRT system strictly inside the Greenbelt, serving the greatest population on the smallest land (51% of population lives inside Greenbelt on 12% of the land, generating 56% of the property taxes) where an LRT better serves denser populations. Our choice to send the LRT out past miles of greenspace to low density suburbs (and, as part of the P3, spend hundreds of millions to replace highway bridges and widen roads) is a costly mistake future generations will curse us for making.