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Jan 19

Submission to Ontario 2026 Budget Consultations

By Transport Action Ontario | Community Transit , Highways and Bridges , Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News , Northern Ontario , Southwestern Ontario , Urban Transit

Transport Action Ontario (TAO) has provided input into Ontario’s 2026 Budget as part of its consultation process. We limited our comments to public transportation needs. Our seven points are highlighted below:

  • Increase Ontario Transit Investment Fund. This fund is intended to support rural intercommunity bus service and is inadequate to meet the demand of our many smaller and rural municipalities.
  • Fund completion, publication and execution of the Southwestern Ontario Transportation Plan. This long-delayed plan needs to be finalized for this growing region.
  • Introduce provincial banking of discontinued rail corridors, ie “rail bank”. Although Ontario has introduced a Short Line Railway Investment Tax Credit, it has not acted on the equally important issue of railway segments (often owned by short line railways) being discontinued and not preserved as transportation corridors.
  • Deep dive into capital costs and procurement model for rapid transit in Ontario. Capital costs have been rising rapidly, threatening our ability to fund and construct additional important transit infrastructure.
  • Cancel Highway 413 and the proposed Highway 401 tunnel. A recent report, coauthored by TAO, shows that rapid transit in this part of the GTA would be at least twice as cost-effective than Highway 413 for moving people and goods.
  • Fund additions to “de-risk” the Northlander train service. We believe that auxiliary power should be available on each train, and that two sleeper cars should be added to each train set.
  • New Revenue tools. Municipalities need new tools, such as a portion of the provincial sales tax or a land transfer tax. The province needs to test road pricing as a proven means of congestion reduction and revenue generation.

Our full submission can be viewed below.

Ontario Southland Railway FP9A locomotive 1401, named after Jeff Willsie and painted in a cream and maroon livery inspired by the Toronto Hamilton and Buffalo Railway
Jan 12

Ontario Short Line Railway Investment Tax Credit

By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News , Northern Ontario , Southwestern Ontario

We are pleased to report that the Ontario Short Line Railway Investment Tax Credit has been implemented. Transport Action Ontario has long advocated for such measures. There are currently 11 short lines licensed to operate in Ontario, and they fill an important role in goods movement, strengthening local economies, and potentially hosting passenger rail.

Provincial support for short lines was first introduced at a high level in Budget 2024. Budget 2025 provided a detailed proposal, and the enabling legislation was passed in November, 2025. Amendments to the 2007 Taxation Act (section 97.3) are now in force.

The temporary (3-year) program offers a 50% refundable corporate income tax credit for eligible capital and labour costs related to track maintenance, capped at $8,500 per track-mile annually for expenses incurred between May 15, 2025 and December 31, 2029. The program is expected to cost $23 million over 3 years.

Jan 11

Comments on Environmental Impact Assessment Report for Highway 413

By Transport Action Ontario | Highways and Bridges , Latest News

The Ministry of Transportation has released a draft report entitled “Highway 413 Preliminary Design and Assessment of Environmental Impacts” for public comment. The document is large – 1700 pages. Transport Action Ontario has submitted comments in two areas:

  • Species at Risk are in grave jeopardy. Impacts from highway will contravene federal objectives. This comment is based on two recent expert reports commissioned by Environmental Defence Canada – on the red side dace and the western chorus frog.
  • Scope of report is too narrow. A re-evaluation of alternatives to the undertaking would show that transit is a better alternative than Highway 413. This comment is based on the recent joint report published by Transport Action Ontario and Environmental Defence Canada entitled “Transit over Traffic: Hard Truths for Addressing Gridlock in the GTHA”

Our full submission can be viewed below.

Dec 15

New Report: Transit over Traffic – Hard Truths for Addressing Gridlock in the GTHA

By Transport Action Ontario | Highways and Bridges , Latest News , Major Reports , Urban Transit

Transport Action Ontario and Environmental Defence Canada have jointly published a major report on addressing gridlock in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). It makes the case that spending $80 billion on mega-highways like Highway 413 and the Highway 401 tunnel will make commutes worse, not better. Decades of experience across North America show that expanding urban highways (non-tolled) just induces more traffic. For the same $80 billion price tag, Ontario could build 400 km of new rapid transit.

The report makes the case that the best way to reduce gridlock is to reallocate highway funding to transit builds and also double transit service so people can “show up and go” without checking schedules. Cities where 30% of rush hour trips are by public transit have proven that this approach works to ease road congestion.

The report also uses Highway 413 as a case study – and demonstrates that putting $14 billion (the estimated capital cost of this highway) towards public transit investment instead of the highway would move more than double the number of commuters per hour.

The report recommends 5 bold actions:

  • Redirect capital funding from mega-highways to transit
  • Increase transit operating funding
  • Reverse car-enabling subsidies
  • Reduce tolls on Highway 407 for trucks as part of a region-wide road pricing scheme
  • Stop urban sprawl

The report can be viewed here:

Transit-over-Traffic-report-2025Download
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