NDP Wants to Give Vancouver $206 Million

It's not exactly free money, but an infusion of $206 million to improve the public transit situation in Vancouver just might be the ticket. Federal NDP leader Jack Layton has pledged the substantial amount of money -- which will be distributed over the course of four years -- for our city's public transit system.

He plans on dedicating one cent per litre from the existing federal excise tax to public transportation. This isn't just for Vancouver, of course, but we'd get our cut. The one cent a litre plan would funnel about $100 million into the Vancouver transit system over four years.

The other half of it would be revenues "from charging the big polluters through a cap-and-trade carbon pricing system." This would represent an additional $106 million for Vancouver based on its share of the transit revenue. Combined, the $206 million would be enough to buy 62 new Skytrain cars, 360 new energy efficient hybrid buses, or some combination of the two.

“We welcome the debate on carbon pricing and climate change,” said Layton. “There is no greater crisis facing our planet and our country. The need for urgent investments in green solutions is desperately needed.”

Source: NDP.ca

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NDP Wants to Give Vancouver $206 Million

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