That’s why the Liberal government invested nearly $100 billion in public infrastructure and it’s why we will continue to invest if we’re elected.

ACCOMPLISHED: Increased service to every 30 minutes on the Lakeshore West GO train line through Burlington.

NEXT STEPS: Phase in GO Regional Express Rail — electric train service that runs every 15 minutes. ACCOMPLISHED: Invested $12.8-million in upgrades for the Appleby, Burlington and Bronte GO stations.

NEXT STEPS: Invest an additional $4.7 million for Appleby GO station improvements and $15 million for the new Burlington GO station building.

ACCOMPLISHED: The Liberal government invested more than $19 billion to restore and expand Ontario’s highway infrastructure — more than the previous two governments combined — and $824.9 million for highway infrastructure in Hamilton and Halton Region.

NEXT STEPS: Invest $29 billion — including $15 billion in the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area — over the next 10 years through the Moving Ontario Forward plan, which includes an accelerated highway-twinning program.

Investing in new roads, bridges and public transit will increase the quality of life for Burlington residents and attract investment, while also creating jobs and supporting businesses. It’s the right thing to do, it’s what we have been doing, and it’s what we’ll continue to do if elected.

Jan Mowbray (NDP candidate)

The Liberals promised to improve transit but what Ontarians got instead was 11 years of waste, delays and mismanagement. As transportation minister, Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne cut $4 billion from GTHA transit funding and delivered a huge blow to all municipalities by eliminating funding for buses. Congestion is worsening and costs our economy more than $6 billion every year. The Liberals simply don’t make sense on transit.

After failing to deliver on just three promises in their last budget, Ontarians don’t trust the Liberals to deliver on the 70 promises they’ve made this time around. Families and businesses need transit relief, safer roads and an end to gridlock. Tim Hudak’s Conservatives don’t even have a plan for public transit.

It’s time for a change. We need to provide convenient and affordable transit options to busy Ontario families by putting transit plans back on track.

The NDP has promised a four-year transit fare freeze.

Burlington has one of the highest single-ride fares in the GTHA — low cost encourages ridership. In my opinion, we really need to expand GO service in order to get people off the roads. And I certainly don’t know of anyone who wants a new highway paving over greenspace.

Andrea Horwath and the NDP have a balanced plan to reduce corporate tax giveaways and invest that money in transit and transportation infrastructure. We will reduce waste and redirect spending to front-line transit service. With Ontario-wide investments in transit and transportation we will prioritize projects to get shovels in the ground. That’s leadership that makes sense.

Charles Zach (Libertarian candidate)

Ontario Libertarians believe that the primary reason that we are experiencing increasing commuter gridlock in the GTA is because the government of Ontario has granted itself the exclusive privilege to provide mass commuter service to its citizens. In economic terms, this condition is called a governmental monopoly, in which the state is the sole provider of a particular public good or service and open competition is prohibited by law.

Economists expound that such monopolies tend to become less efficient, less innovative and become complacent over time because they do not have to compete in the free marketplace. Economists further argue that monopolies such as the GO Transit system and the Ministry of Transportation, cause inefficiencies in the marketplace, such as unnecessarily high prices to consumers and a lack of flexibility to adapt to changing market demands in a timely fashion. The result is the static supply of inferior, dated mass transit products and services by the state that only get more expensive over time. The current public mass transit model is fundamentally flawed and unsustainable.

Ontario Libertarians believe that all people should be free to invest in Ontario’s mass transit system, without restriction or interference from the government. Introducing open competition to the mass transit industry is the key to optimal mass transit service and products, ongoing innovation, low cost and sustainability. The competitive and innovative free market should be allowed to select the most affordable and environmentally friendly methods of mass transit for the citizens of Ontario.

See next Thursday’s edition of the Burlington Post for the next question in our Ontario Votes series.