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Mike Schreiner, leader of the Green Party of Ontario and candidate in Guelph, called on the status quo parties to be honest about the need to pay for transit.
“At 82 minutes a day on average, commuters in the GTHA waste about seven years of their working lives stuck in traffic. The cost to the economy is enormous — $6 billion this year alone. But the cost in quality of life is immeasurable,” said Schreiner. “I have yet to meet the person who would rather idle their car on the 401 than play with their kids at home.”
The Green Party is committed to affordable, all-day, two-way GO service on all seven GO lines. But only the Green Party is prioritizing congestion relief as part of its plan to fund inter-city transit.
“We are putting $6 into highways for every $1 we put into transit, capital costs aside,” said Tim Grant, the Green Party’s transportation critic and candidate in Trinity-Spadina. “If we stopped building highways — like the proposed expansion to Highway 7 — through farmers’ fields, we’d have a lot more money for transit.”
Reducing congestion through dedicated revenue tools such as commercial parking levies, which the Green Party estimates will bring in two thirds of the money needed annually to fund a modern, world-class inter-city transit system in Ontario, would improve options for everyone.
“I know people in Guelph who have refused jobs outside of the city or won’t go to Toronto to visit family or watch a ball game because the traffic is so terrible,” said Schreiner. “They should have the option to take the train. And if they have to drive, they should be able to trust that they won’t spend hours trapped in a hot car.”
Mike Schreiner and the Green Party are bringing honesty, integrity, and good public policy to Queen’s Park.
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