Federal budget leaves tramway funding in the air

Taylor Clark

Gatineau was left frustrated by the tabling of the 2024 federal budget, which lacked specific commitments on the delivery of the long-awaited tramway.

“We’ve been waiting for this for over 10 years. The hiding is over, let’s announce (it), then let’s move forward with the tramway,” acting mayor Daniel Champagne told journalists during a press briefing on April 16.

The absence of a commitment came as a disappointment to the City as Canada’s Minister of Transport, Pablo Rodriguez, had implied that funding would be on the way during a meeting of the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities on March 21.

Champagne did not exclude the possibility that the needed funding could be found in a different line of the budget. The interim mayor noted that more than $33 billion was invested in public transportation, but did not trust that the necessary amount was in this particular investment.

“It is high time for the federal government to say clearly and precisely, ‘We are moving forward,’” said Champagne.

According to the Bureau de projet Tramway Gatineau-Ottawa website, the Government of Quebec already planned to cover 60 per cent of the eligible expenses in the Gatineau territory. The hope was that the federal government would pay the rest.

If no financing was received from the federal government, Champagne said Gatineau would have to face reality and move on from the project, but he was optimistic that an announcement would be on its way in the coming week, “not in two months, not in two weeks.”

Champagne insisted he would continue to campaign for the relevance and necessity of the tramway. “To this day, no one has told me that they’re pulling the plug on it.”

Photo caption: A rendering of the tramway in the heart of Gatineau’s centre-ville on rue Laurier offers citizens an idea of what the final project could look like.

Photo credit: Bureau de projet Tramway Gatineau-Ottawa website