Back to SearchToday’s 2021 Ontario budget is a winner for the City Kitchener and the local government sector. The 2021 budget is a giant leap forward for Two-Way All-Day GO rail service on the Kitchener Line. These investments continue the vision of building a strong Toronto-Waterloo Innovation Corridor, and together with the City of Kitchener’s Make It Kitchener 2.0 economic development strategy, will help ensure that this region continues to lead the province and the country in economic growth as we come out of the pandemic over the coming years.
“Two-Way All-Day GO rail service on the Kitchener Line will be an economic game-changer for Kitchener, the region and the Toronto-Waterloo Innovation Corridor,” said Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic. “In the post-COVID economy, we will need these strategic, significant long term transit investments to create jobs, reduce our carbon footprint, and to foster our continued economic growth. We thank the Provincial government for today’s Budget announcement of significant rail investments between Kitchener and Georgetown, and look forward to more details as we continue moving this transformational project forward.”
The Provincial Budget had an economic recovery theme, with various new programs and initiatives announced to support businesses, faith communities, families and individuals. Also included in today’s budget is $117 million in funding for targeted employment and training support to assist women, racialized individuals and others who have been disproportionately negatively impacted by COVID-19 economic impacts.
The Province also announced several other areas which will benefit municipalities including:
- $2.8 billion to connect homes, businesses and communities to broadband.
- an additional $1 billion in funding for municipalities for 2021, a top-up of 2020 Safe Restart Funding
- an additional $400 million over the next three years to support the tourism, hospitality and arts & culture sectors
- a $200 million fund for larger strategic projects including sport and community facilities
- $10 million for 2021-22 for the Digital Main Street platform.
“There is no sector of Ontario’s economy, including municipal governments, that has not been impacted by the COVID-19 global pandemic”, added Mayor Vrbanovic. “Today’s budget makes many of the necessary investments to see us through the coming months of the pandemic as vaccines are rolled out, and then begin to make the required investments to get Kitchener residents and Ontarians back working and our economy thriving.”
For more information please contact:
Paul Grivicic, Chief of Staff
City of Kitchener
226-749-3410
paul.grivicic@kitchener.ca
Bethany Rowland, Director of Corporate Communications & Marketing
City of Kitchener
226-752-9038
bethany.rowland@kitchener.ca
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