Mayor’s Statement: Federal Transit Funding Announcement

As one of the fastest growing cities in Canada, building new transit infrastructure is a massive priority for the City of Surrey. When it comes to new rapid transit, Surrey has been lagging behind for decades. That is why I wholeheartedly applaud this morning’s announcement by Prime Minister Trudeau. His commitment of $14.9 billion to public transit projects over the next eight years makes good sense. Despite the current malaise of the COVID pandemic, it will not last forever, and things will eventually return to normal. When that happens, people will once again turn to public transit to get them to and from work or play.

The federal funding announcement today makes good sense both in the short term and the long term. As we work our way through the economic effects of the pandemic, large infrastructure projects will immediately create well paying and stable jobs. When the transit project is completed, it will be a public amenity that will help our residents travel cost effectively, efficiently with the added bonus of minimizing our overall carbon footprint.

With today’s announcement by Prime Minister Trudeau and Premier Horgan’s promise to fully fund SkyTrain through Surrey all the way to Langley, I am now more confident than ever that Surrey is no longer left behind on rapid transit. Surrey’s new SkyTrain extension is shovel ready, will create well-paying jobs immediately, and will take more cars off the road with the built-in ridership from the growing cities of Surrey and the Langleys. Let’s get moving on it!

Mayor Doug McCallum