by Vincent Puhakka
Although the dust has only just settled on the longest election campaign in recent Canadian history; it's time we took stock of our Prime Minister-elect and his plans for public transit. On the surface, things look good: the Liberal Party's signature promise to run three years of deficits to fund infrastructure investment stands in stark contrast to the previous government's record of piecemeal, project by project spending. Another breath of fresh air was the explicit mention of transit in these platform announcements (as opposed to the omnipresent 'roads and bridges' we hear about south of the border, if rail lines or bus stops are inferior to auto infrastructure!) Finally, this is a government elected with significant support from city dwellers and to maintain support we can expect the Liberals to move quickly on investments in urban mobility. In spite of all this, those of us who are progressive and pro transit should pause before jumping on the 'Real Change' Trudeau bandwagon.
