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Premier Kathleen Wynne is urging the business community to help unite Ontario residents behind a multibillion-dollar plan to fund public transit in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area.

Speaking to the Toronto Region Board of Trade on Monday, Wynne said public transit will benefit everyone in Ontario by spurring economic growth and tourism, and reducing the effects of congestion on the environment.

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The board of trade and Metrolinx, the provincial transit authority, have suggested several ways to raise $2-billion a year to fund public transit projects. They include highway tolls, a hike in the sales tax and a half-cent-a-litre tax on gasoline.

Wynne acknowledged that those new levies are politically unpopular, but said it’s not “a dark tale of taxes and tolls,” but about laying the groundwork for the province’s success for generations to come.

She also took a veiled shot at Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who pretended to vomit last week when asked about using tolls and taxes to fund public transit.