Mulcair keeps peddling his infrastructure and public transit mirage

September 25, 2015

QUÉBEC CITY – In a speech delivered today in front of the Fédération québécoise des municipalités, Thomas Mulcair once again mentioned his 20-year, multi-billion dollar transit and infrastructure funding pledge to municipalities. In addition to the eyebrows that a five-election plan raises when cities and towns need investment now, there is the more important issue of Mulcair’s lack of honesty in explaining his promise to invest $1.3 billion annually in transit and $1.5 billion annually in infrastructure projects.

As has previously been revealed, the fine print of Mulcair’s plan tells a different story:

“While he has indeed promised $1.3 billion in annual funding for transit over 20 years, the NDP’s fine print shows funding would only increase by $420 million in the first year.” (Canadian Press, August 30, 2015)

But there is more. The second version of the NDP’s fiscal plan – disclosed a few days after the initial version was attacked for lacking in the most basic details – reveals that only $300 million of the $1.3 billion promised for 2019-2020 is actually new money; the rest is funding already included in Harper’s Budget 2015.

As for Thomas Mulcair’s $1.5 billion infrastructure promise, that same document reveals that here again, only $420 million will be made available to municipalities in the first year of a NDP government, with the full amount only kicking in after five years.

“Mulcair stood in front of Quebec’s mayors today promising billions of dollars for public transit and infrastructure; it turns out that the money won’t be available for years and a large portion of it isn’t new money at all,” said Liberal candidate for Ahuntsic—Cartierville, Mélanie Joly. “Read the speech and listen to what Mulcair is telling voters during this election. He constantly fails to mention the phase-in or that he’s simply re-packaging Harper’s budget. Mulcair is not being honest with Canadians. His plan is a mirage.”

“Our cities, our municipalities, and our economy need infrastructure and transit investment now. Liberals will invest $5 billion next year for new infrastructure – including public transit, social, and green infrastructure – on top of investments already planned. The NDP will spend a fraction of that money and it will take five years to get to the full amount promised, if they ever get there,” continued Ms. Joly. “When was Thomas Mulcair planning to tell Canadians the truth – after Election Day?”

“The only thing Thomas Mulcair’s experience has taught him is to play politics with everything,” concluded Ms. Joly. “This election is a choice between investment in our economy and communities, or Harper’s and Mulcair’s cuts and broken promises. Mulcair has made the wrong choice. We can – and we will – do better.”