Premier Kathleen Wynne says she’s prepared to let her political fortunes rise or fall on the minority Liberal government’s transit strategy.

“I expect I will be campaigning on very tough decisions and I’m prepared to do that because I really believe that that is what’s expected of government,” she told the Star Thursday, adding her government’s final decision on how to pay for new subways, streetcars, and buses will be in the spring budget.

“I am determined that we’re going to build transit and I’m also determined that we’re not going to — whatever the revenue tool is — ask people outside of the GTA to pay for transit within the GTA,” Wynne said.

The province’s transit funding advisory panel earlier called for a three-cents-a-litre increase in the first year, costing drivers about $80 a year more, adding one cent a year to a maximum of 10 cents, a 0.5-per-cent corporate income tax increase and $80 million in HST redirected to transit building.

“We’re going to have to make some difficult decisions. I’m not ruling anything out today,” she said.

“Our plan for funding transit — including the revenue stream — will be part of the budget in 2014. This is not a political play for me.”

The minority Liberal government’s budget could be quickly followed by a general election if the Tories and New Democrats decide to vote it down.

Transportation Minister Glen Murray said motorists in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area will come to see the value in paying more for gasoline for better transit.

“People in Ontario . . . understand there isn’t a free lunch,” Murray said after the release of a special report Thursday recommending ways to raise money for public transit.

“They also understand anything we do next year is going to save them money. Right now they are paying a lot more money in buying cars and at the gas pump than they are ever going to pay under any reasonable plan we would bring forward,” he said.

“If we have a decent transit package there is 7 or 11 (thousand dollars) or maybe more money (in savings) that’s going to come out of the household transportation budget.”

Both Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats have vowed to oppose a hike in the cost of gas or any other tax increases related to transit.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said “unequivocally . . . we will not support” new gasoline levies to bankroll transit. “There’s no way we are supportive of new taxes,” she said.

Tory Leader Tim Hudak said a hike in the cost of gasoline to pay for transit amounts to a “sin tax” designed to punish motorists.

“That’s a huge tax increase . . . I don’t think families can afford it. That’s going to cost hundreds of dollars,” he said. “I don’t think the answer is to put some kind of sin tax on driving.”

Murray said it’s impossible to ignore the congestion because “you are spending $700 a year on gas not moving — stopping and starting.”

Hudak said there is no need to increase taxes, as dipping into existing provincial revenue, selling off surplus properties and commercializing subway and GO Transit stations would cover the $2 billion a year necessary to deal with paralyzing gridlock.

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“People have done enough to put money into the provincial treasury, it’s time that the government did our share,” he said, offering a prelude to next week’s release of his party’s transit strategy.

Hudak said a Progressive Conservative government would establish a dedicated Ontario Transportation Trust, which would be audited annually to show the public where every transit dollar is spent.

In the legislature, Wynne said it is “very interesting: the Leader of the Opposition never talks about the costs of not having transit. He never talks about the hours and hours wasted.

“He never talks about the cost of sitting in gridlock. He never talks about the cost to businesses not being able to move their goods and services around. He never talks about the quality of life that is diminished by having to sit in that gridlock,” she said.

Hudak told reporters the minority Liberal government can’t be trusted to put money raised from gasoline directly into transit, noting that when the Liberals brought in the Health Tax in the 2004 budget it ended up going into general revenue.

Hudak explained a Tory government would sell off the LCBO’s sprawling property on Toronto’s lakefront “and just behind me you’ve got the Ontario Power Generation headquarters that we know is filled with bureaucrats we don’t need on some pretty expensive real estate.”

“So why couldn’t you sell it off, downsize those operations on cheaper land and use that excess revenue to build subways,” he said.

Finance Minister Charles Sousa said the government will consider a number of recommendations on ways to raise money for transit.

When asked if a gas tax would be political suicide for the minority Liberal government, Sousa said decisions can’t be made on the basis of whether a government will get re-elected or not.

“We are making some tough decisions for the benefit of our future,” he said.

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