Letter in support of active transportation under the Canada Public Transit Fund

by | Dec 11, 2024 | News | 0 comments

December 10, 2024

The Honourable Sean Fraser, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada
P.O. Box 8777, Postal Station T
Ottawa, Ontario
K1G 1C0
Canada

To Minister Fraser, 

The Canadian Active Transportation Alliance (CATA) is a group of stakeholder organizations representing millions of people of all ages who drive, walk, bicycle, and use public transit to move around their communities. Our Alliance believes in a vision of safe and sustainable mobility for all Canadians through better planning, design, programs, policies, and infrastructure. We believe the Federal Government must play a leading role in funding the design and construction of Active Transportation (AT) infrastructure, recognizing these efforts will bring significant environmental, health, road safety, and economic benefits to Canadians and their communities.

Active transportation gives us an opportunity to improve health outcomes by being physically active on a regular basis, improves road safety through fewer vehicles on the road and improved road design, is accessible to Canadians, increases social exchanges, reduces road congestion, contributes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and saves money for Canadians on fuel, parking, and reduced taxes needed to pay for expensive road repairs and renewals.

Our Alliance commends the federal government for establishing, in July of 2021, Canada’s first ever dedicated active transportation infrastructure fund with $400 million in funding over 5 years. We further acknowledge your government’s significant commitment to establishing the Canada Public Transit Fund, which will provide $3 billion per year beginning in 2026-2027 to fund both public transit and active transportation infrastructure projects.

Our Alliance is also pleased to have been a leading stakeholder working with Infrastructure Canada to help inform the government’s National Active Transportation Strategy. The Strategy and the associated Active Transportation Fund represent an important and significant first step in increasing levels of active transportation use and improving road safety in Canada. As the government moves forward with establishing the Canada Public Transit Fund, with active transportation as an element, we are writing to offer support in ensuring word of this new Fund is widely circulated through our collective networks to the right organizations, and to offer support for any public awareness activities the government may choose to undertake.

Notwithstanding the commitment this government has demonstrated to active transportation efforts, our Alliance continues to support a dedicated AT Fund within the larger permanent Public Transit Fund. A dedicated Active Transportation Fund within the larger Fund (with its own dollars set aside for AT-only projects) would ensure that AT applicants are not left in the shadows of massive public transit projects. This would also ensure that the benefits of active transportation could be shared with communities across Canada and not just large municipalities for their transit infrastructure projects as we worry may be the case. We also recommend a simplified application process in order to ensure greater participation by Canada’s smaller municipalities. Our teams received feedback from many smaller communities that they did not apply for the original $400-million AT Fund because of what they perceived to be a very onerous application process.

Our Alliance offers the following recommendations for your consideration:

Recommendation 1 – Establish a dedicated AT Fund housed within the Public Transit Fund, and track and publicly report on annual spending.

We recommend that the Government of Canada commit to a dollar or percentage target spend directly going to AT projects, as well as track and report publicly on these investments. Stakeholders need to be sure a portion of the funds are actually spent on AT infrastructure. More bike racks at transit hubs and on buses are good, but we can’t stop there. The permanent Public Transit Fund must be designed in a manner that encourages broad AT infrastructure development in many communities across Canada.

Recommendation 2 – The Fund should support public awareness activities.

As research has shown, while engineering improvements have the greatest impact on walking and cycling rates, combining engineering improvements with education and encouragement programs results in a multiplier effect, offering an even greater impact on mode share. We need to both build safer streets and encourage and empower residents to use these new transportation corridors that offer safe, healthy, and more sustainable options.

Recommendation 3 – Offer a streamlined application process.

As noted above, our team works on Active Transportation Planning and Design projects with communities of all sizes – from Langley BC to Lunenburg NS. When the funding opportunity of the ATF was initially shared, many of the smaller communities we work with were excited to apply, but many backed off when they saw the submission and reporting requirements. In smaller communities, it is often the Public Works Manager or Recreation Manager who is placed in charge of AT initiatives. They have a lot on their plate – from water treatment to roads to programs to staffing. Demands on their time are significant, and as such they will often decline funding opportunities they perceive as requiring a significant amount of time to apply for and report on. This would be particularly exacerbated if the same process was used for applications for huge transit projects and relatively modest active transportation requests. We would be happy to offer our support to any efforts to simplify and streamline the application process.

Recommendation 4 – Ensure the Fund can provide grants up to 100% of approved project budgets.

Since the Active Transportation Fund was launched in 2021, numerous communities across the country have been able to undertake planning and design projects – which is great news. However, now that these communities have AT plans and designs on the books, they are looking to build – requiring capital funding for construction. With ever increasing demands on the budgets of local governments, finding matching funding for the construction of pedestrian and cycling facilities poses a significant challenge, particularly for smaller communities. Removing the need for matching funding would allow for the construction of safer, more sustainable streets and AT facilities, providing a much needed “first step” in the implementation of many ATF-funded AT Plans.

Recommendation 5 – Flexibility should be the goal of the Fund’s design.

Overall, AT projects are often unique in nature and so the Fund should be designed with flexibility in mind so dollars can get out into communities across Canada. No AT project is exactly the same across Canada. What is needed in a community in New Brunswick will be different than what is needed in northern Saskatchewan or Vancouver.

Lastly, we ask the department to:

  • Continue its commitment to support and advance the priorities announced in the National Active Transportation Strategy: This Strategy is critical to ensuring all levels of government work together to improve community health and safety, and that developed policies are informed by current best practices. Clearly defined goals and targets are vital to increasing active transportation usage in Canada, as is a clear plan and timeline on how we will get there. Federal leadership is a vital and welcome addition to the active transportation sector.

Our organizations welcome the opportunity to work with the government to promote and enhance active transportation opportunities in Canada.

We are available to answer any questions and look forward to continuing to support the Department’s work on active transportation. If you require any further details, please contact Jason Kerr, Managing Director, Government Relations at CAA (jkerr@national.caa.ca) on behalf of the parties to this letter.

Sincerely,

 

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