LRT funding could become a provincial and federal election issue, if councillors approve a PR campaign to broadcast party platforms on the matter.
Mayor Don Iveson said the city needs a major commitment from both levels of government to help fund new LRT lines, or else it will take 100 years for the city to build the LRT network.
“There’s no way the city of Edmonton can go it alone on this,” Mayor Don Iveson said.
The city hopes to capitalize on the looming provincial and federal elections this year. Next week council will debate the merits of broadcasting candidate platforms, as they relate to transit and LRT funding.
“There’s lots of precedent from the city, in a non-partisan way, putting issues that are important to our municipality on the table.” Iveson said.
“I’d certainly like to know where all aspiring members of legislative assembly and members of parliament, who would serve Edmonton, how they feel about those issues.”
The city should be able to contribute about $1 billion to the LRT network between 2019 and 2034, once the Valley Line is complete. A total of $5 billion will be needed to expand the entire LRT network.
Iveson said the issue should be front and centre in both of this year’s elections, because it will be the best way to deal with road congestion and urban sprawl as the city’s population continues to balloon.
“We can’t achieve the kind of infill goals we want to achieve, we can’t get people in and out of downtown as smoothly as we would like,” Iveson said.
Coun. Michael Oshry and Coun. Bryan Anderson said they were concerned the city would have to sacrifice other important capital projects, like recreation centres and fire stations, in favour of building the LRT.
The mayor said the city should be able to build all the infrastructure it needs, but only if the province and federal government contribute.
