Peter Fassbender, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development and Minister Responsible for TransLink issued the following statement announcing $2.2 billion in matching funds for new transit projects in Metro Vancouver, including rapid transit in Surrey and Vancouver:

“Last week’s federal budget confirmed that the Trudeau government has joined with the government of British Columbia in historic levels of funding for new transit infrastructure – as they announced approximately $2.2 billion over 11 years for Metro Vancouver transit projects.

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“With $4.4 billion in senior government funding now committed, the region is poised to make real progress in achieving the transit priorities for the Lower Mainland. British Columbia looks forward to continuing to work with our federal and regional partners on delivering the next phase of these projects.

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“Today’s announcement is on top of the almost a quarter of a billion dollars ($246 million) that we committed for Phase One projects to improve transportation in the region, including the purchase of new SkyTrain cars, a new SeaBus, upgrades to bus exchanges and SkyTrain stations, and important design and early works on rapid transit projects along the Broadway Corridor and Surrey-Newton-Guildford.

“With this historic level of funding commitments from senior levels of governments for Phase Two, the Province is committed to continuing to work with all of our partners to finalize important details about these new rapid transit and other projects so that we can move forward and get ‘shovels in the ground’ as quickly as possible.”