Thank you Mayor Kelly. (Halifax Regional Municipality)

The Honourable Jamie Muir, Minister of Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations, and Fred Whalen, Warden, Municipality of the County of Kings
Good afternoon. It is my pleasure to be here today on behalf of my colleague, the Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities to announce that the new Government of Canada is investing $37.5 million to improve Nova Scotia’s public transit systems.

This investment includes $11.7 million from the Canada-Nova Scotia Agreement on the Transfer of Federal Public Transit Funds, which we are making public today. It also includes $25.8 million funded through the federal Public Transit Capital Trust, which was announced last September.

With these new sources of funds, the Government of Canada is recognizing that investing in public transit infrastructure projects throughout Nova Scotia’s communities is an important priority.

 Reliable and efficient public transit is key to ensuring environmentally sound, vibrant and healthy communities. The Government of Canada recognizes that increasing public transit use can help reduce congestion in cities, thereby lowering business costs and making our communities more liveable and competitive.

 This Government is also committed to delivering cleaner air to improve our environment and to reduce health impacts of pollution on Canadians. Public transit contributes to this goal.

 In addition to environmental benefits, public transit investments also help people get around so that they can participate in various activities and be more a part of their communities.

 We are pleased to work in partnership with the Province for the prosperity of communities in Nova Scotia. As we all know, no one order of government can solve the issues facing our cities and communities on its own. Our success as a country depends on forging solid and constructive partnerships that respect jurisdictional responsibilities.

 In Budget 2006, we committed to a total of $16.5 billion over the next four years for provincial, territorial and municipal infrastructure. This is an unprecedented level of support for infrastructure and communities across Canada. This budget included $6.6 billion in renewed funding.

 This Government also increased the amount of funding to be dedicated solely to public transit to $1.3 billion.

Of this, $400 million has been made available as a one-time contribution to provinces and territories in 2005-06 for public transit infrastructure.

Today, we are announcing that Nova Scotia’s share of this fund is $11.7 million.

The remaining $900 million was provided through the Public Transit Capital Trust and we expect that provinces and territories, like Nova Scotia, will redistribute their funding based largely on transit ridership.

We are also providing Canadian communities $5 billion over five years through the federal Gas Tax Fund for environmentally sustainable municipal infrastructure. Nova Scotia’s share is $145.2 million and the money is already flowing.

In addition, Budget 2006 introduced a tax credit on the purchase cost of monthly transit passes.

All of these measures will encourage public transit use, ease traffic congestion and improve the environment by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and noxious emissions from cars.

In all, we’re investing heavily in public transit and we’re giving people a direct financial incentive to get out of their cars. No other government has ever done as much to encourage public transit and I’m proud to be part of bringing these real advantages to Nova Scotia as part of our overall commitment to better municipal infrastructure.
Thank you.