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Stage 2 will add 30 kilometres of rail and 19 new stations to the LRT network. It would also connect the city’s four main post-secondary institutions, including Algonquin College, Carleton University, the University of Ottawa and La Cité Collégiale, while bringing 70 per cent of Ottawa residents within five kilometres of a rail line.

“For a mother and father in Orléans or Nepean, it means reducing their commute time so they can spend more time at the dinner table or at their kids’ soccer games,” said Watson. “For businesses, it means a stronger, more competitive economy as Ottawa stays ahead of gridlock. ”

Phase 2 is expected to cost $3 billion, about $900 million more than the Confederation Line. The city will pay $1 billion and has now formally asked the provincial and federal governments to each contribute $1 billion. Watson says he’s confident the province is already on board for its share, given it committed to the funding during the last provincial election and the funding was “reaffirmed by the premier to me.” Watson said the city expects an answer from the federal government “within the next six months.”

In letters to Premier Kathleen Wynne and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the city also asks for help funding another $315 million to pay for two additional rail line extensions: One east to Trim Road costing $160 million and a $155-million rail line to the Ottawa’s Macdonald-Cartier International Airport. (Letters with Watson’s signature that were released to the media Thursday transposed those figures — and misspelled Macdonald as MacDonald. When contacted, an official for the mayor’s office said the letters were only drafts and the errors were corrected before being sent to Harper, Wynne and a number of area MPs and MPPs).

Zachary Dayler, executive director of the Wellington West BIA, who attended Thursday’ news conference, said expanding light rail doesn’t just cut commuter travel time, it will also encourage residents of different neighbourhoods to explore areas they may not have before.

“Something like light rail will open up those neighbourhoods to people, where it’s that idea of, ‘Let’s hop on the train, have breakfast in Wellington West, head downtown,’ ” he said. “It just opens up the city in a really exciting way.”