Singh to double funding, to fully electrify transit

TORONTO — NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is promising to double funding for public transit projects to help municipalities make their public transit fleets fully electric by 2030.

Singh said Tuesday the impacts of the climate crisis are already hurting communities across Canada with wildfires and drought. Public transit would be an investment priority for an NDP government because transportation is one of the largest sources of carbon emissions, he said.

“We know the impacts of climate change are hurting us right now,” Singh said while standing outside a streetcar loop in Toronto’s historic Distillery District.

He pointed to Lytton, B.C., which was burned down by a wildfire in early July, as an example of the pressing need to address climate change.

Singh said that if elected in the upcoming federal election the NDP would increase the funding given to municipalities to electrify public transit from $2.2 billion to $4.4 billion.

“Our plan is to fight this climate crisis like we really want to win it,” he said.

Singh said Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau continues to break his own promises to fight climate change and Canada has become the worst emitter in the G7 under his leadership.

Trudeau’s climate promises includes plans to regulate emissions cuts in the oil and gas sector for the first time, with a view to getting to net zero by 2050.

“That is what we are committed to, that is what we are going to do, full stop,” Trudeau said on Tuesday. “Just so people are clear — major oil industry companies have also all committed to getting to net zero by 2050. This is an inevitable part of that.”

The Liberals’ climate change pledges also include setting new regulations that will require half of all cars sold in Canada to be zero-emission by 2030, and 100 per cent by 2035. Trudeau also said it would help workers in the energy and construction industries pivot to new fields.