New transit for Toronto’s rapidly developing east waterfront is among the projects that could get a slice of a $15 billion dedicated Toronto region transit fund outlined in Thursday’s Ontario budget.

Combined with a $14-billion fund for transportation improvements in other parts of the province, the minority Liberal government is promising $29 billion in transportation improvements over the next decade.

The plan will help commuters get to work faster and leave more time for family, said Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa.

“This is all about connecting communities in the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area. We recognize the concentration of population exists in this area and that’s where the majority of the gridlock and the congestion is occurring.”

The dedicated transit funds will help finance the second wave of projects in Metrolinx’s Big Move transportation plan including a relief subway, Mississauga LRT, an extension of the Yonge subway to York Region and electric GO train service running at frequencies of up to 15 minutes across all the lines.

But the government says it could also pay for other priorities that support economic development like Toronto’s East Bayfront, a project that tops city council’s transit wish list but remains unfunded.

Much of the transit funding outlined in the budget will come from re-dedicating taxes the government already collects. It allots 7.5 cents of the gas tax, worth $605 million, to the transit fund. Another $75 million will come from re-purposing the HST Ontario collects on fuel.

A further $33 million would be raised by restricting small business tax deductions, increasing aviation fuel taxes four cents per litre over four years and cutting the fuel tax exemption for machinery used in roadworks.

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About $650 million would come from the sale of unspecified provincial assets and from federal infrastructure funds.

“We also need a national transit strategy with the federal government,” Sousa told reporters.

Borrowing an additional $380 million would bring the total available for Toronto region transit to $1.7 billion in 2014-2015, according to the budget.

That remains short of the $2 billion a year that Metrolinx has said it needs to build the remaining $34 billion in transit projects prescribed in its 25-year regional transportation plan.

Thursday’s budget made no mention of operating funds for the TTC.

The new dedicated funding would be in addition to previous government commitments to the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, light rail on Finch and Sheppard and an extension of the Bloor-Danforth subway to replace the Scarborough RT.

The budget allocates $2.5 billion in highway construction this year, $400 million more than last year. Among the construction starts expected this year are the second phase of Highway 407 East from Oshawa to Clarington, new HOV lanes in Mississauga and Brampton and the widening of Highway 401 near Cobourg.

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