By Nadine Pelaez, Movement Volunteer
Annual budgets show a government’s priorities. Budget 2026 shows that public transit isn’t one. For a government that markets itself as champions of infrastructure, that’s a striking omission.
Context:
The last major commitment of new, dedicated federal transit funding was the Canada Public Transit Fund, announced in 2024. It set aside $30 billion over 10 years for capital spending on transit infrastructure (although it lacked funding for operating expenses). In February, $5 billion was cut from it and reallocated to the Build Communities Strong Fund. The consolation prize is that transit is eligible for that fund’s $51 billion. The problem is that seemingly everything else is too: hospitals, recreation centres, post-secondary education, bridges, water systems, and transit all draw from the same pool. That makes the Build Communities Strong Fund unreliable, as transit projects will have to compete with other infrastructure projects to access that funding.
Budget 2026:
Fast forward to Budget 2026, released last week. No new funding is announced for any public transit project. Transit is hardly mentioned except when grouped with general infrastructure that the government vaguely supports.
There are a few notable wins in intercity transportation. Budget 2026 promises $1.2 billion in operating funding to VIA Rail, building on the $6.6 billion already announced in September. The Alto High-Speed Rail project is given a nod, with legislation proposed to accelerate its construction. Budget 2026 also promises renewals to ferry and remote passenger rail programs in Central and Eastern Canada. But these don’t help Canadians who rely on buses, metros, and commuter rail to get to work every day, and none of it goes to British Columbians.
So where is the money going? This is a budget that prioritizes corporations. Front and centre is the “Productivity Mega Deduction”, a corporate tax cut of $36 billion that will mostly benefit oil and gas companies.
That matters because major infrastructure projects rely on coordinated funding from all levels of government. The Broadway Subway Project, for example, is funded 66.2% ($1.957 billion) by the Government of B.C., 30.4% ($896.9 million) by the Government of Canada, and 3.4% ($100.3 million, in-kind) by the City of Vancouver. Without the federal share, projects like this stall or never start.
Here are some of the projects that we want to see funded by the federal government:
- A SkyTrain extension to UBC
- The three Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridors TransLink is working on:
- Burnaby-North Shore
- Langley- Maple Ridge
- King George Blvd in Surrey
- A Gondola to SFU
- An intercity transportation network that links all the cities and towns across BC. Why should places with VIA Rail stations be the only ones to receive federally-funded transit?
- More buses and expanded depots to allow for bus network expansion across the region. TransLink has proposed a doubling of bus service, but this remains unfunded, and our lack of storage and maintenance capacity presents a long-term barrier to this expansion.
Strong public transit is a pillar of resilient communities, and has profound effects on affordability, accessibility, health outcomes, environmental protection, and standard of living. Dedicated, protected funding at the federal level is crucial for their expansion and stability. Instead, the federal government has chosen to look away.
Contact your MP today and tell them how urgently you want to see more transit funding in your community. Find their contact details here.