(12-13-2020, 04:46 PM)Bytor Wrote: Has something changed in terms of funding or immediacy of the project? It certainly would fit in well with post-covid economic boost projects, the idea of which has been bandied about lately.
The project will happen when and if the provincial/federal government decides to fund it, and that's mostly a political decision. For all the talk of ridership, projected timelines, etc, funding of major infrastructure is fundamentally political.
LRT phase one got federal funding because Braid and Woodworth cornered the finance minister in his office and said they weren't leaving til he funded ION, and that ION would be our region's only major ask in that term of government. Phase two will get federal funding when the Cambridge MPs are similarly committed. Same basic process applies provincially.
Post-Covid stimulus certainly provides a good political justification for lobbying for funding, but it's still political. If Cambridge MP/MPPs prioritize GO funding, then that's where the money will go instead.