Mulcair shreds phony public transit pledge

August 31, 2015

TORONTO – Thomas Mulcair is dropping his multi-billion dollar transit funding pledge after Liberals exposed the $28 billion gap between Thomas Mulcair’s empty promises and his Harper-inspired balanced-budget commitment.

Mulcair clearly promised $1.3 billion annually for public transit, starting immediately:

“An NDP government will partner with cities by creating a new public transit strategy called the Better Transit Plan. Working alongside the provinces and territories, this 20-year plan will invest $1.3 billion annually, that’s money for every municipality with transit needs.”
(Thomas Mulcair, speech to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, June 6, 2015)

Under pressure from journalists yesterday, Mulcair slashed his phony commitment to $420 million:

“The Liberals and Conservatives count $1.3 billion in the first year for Mulcair’s public transit plan. 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)

“Mulcair stood in front of Canada’s mayors in June promising more than a billion dollars for public transit next year; now it’s a billion dollars less,” said Spadina—Fort York Liberal candidate, Adam Vaughan. “Read the speech and listen to what Mulcair told voters during this election. He said nothing about a phase-in. Mulcair has broken his public transit commitment to Canadians.”

“Canadians looking for real change from Harper aren’t going to get it from Thomas Mulcair. He isn’t what he is pretending to be,” said Mr. Vaughan. “Mulcair opposes our plan to raise taxes on the wealthiest one percent; he opposes our tax cut for the middle class; and he’s going to keep sending Harper’s child benefit cheques to millionaires.”

“Mulcair has already backed off NDP health care funding commitments, he has been criticized for misleading on the minimum wage and child care, and now it’s public transit. Mulcair’s promises are meaningless,” concluded Mr. Vaughan.