Ontario’s Finance Minister wants to know what Ottawa plans to do to help fund transit expansion in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

Last Friday, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said increasing the HST in the GTHA to fund the “Big Move” transit plan isn’t possible. He said a regional HST increase would violate the agreement between Ottawa and Ontario.

Ontario finance Minister Charles Sousa tells the CBC he is asking for a meeting with Flaherty to find out what else he would suggest. He points out that Ottawa provides a “meagre” amount of transit funding. And he says Flaherty is the minister responsible for the GTHA and a resident of the area.

 

It will cost two billion dollars a year to relieve gridlock in the GTHA. An HST increase would bring in more than half of that amount;.