Canada releases federal budget, frustrates transit advocates
Image credit: Government of Canada
In Budget 2025, the Federal Government in Canada announced a $54 billion investment in core public infrastructure including water/wastewater and transit.
An unknown portion of the Canada Public Transit Fund will now be reallocated to the newly launched Build Communities Strong Fund, according to the federal Department of Finance.
The Build Communities Strong Fund will invest $51 billion over 10 years, followed by $3 billion per year ongoing, to revitalise local infrastructure – the hospitals, universities, and colleges that serve our people, the roads and bridges that move our goods, and the water and transit systems that sustain our towns. The program will include:
- A provincial and territorial stream that will provide $17.2 billion over 10 years to support infrastructure projects and priorities in housing, health care, and education. This could include transit infrastructure, colleges, universities, medical schools, and water and wastewater facilities. From this stream, $5 billion over three years will be dedicated specifically to a new Health Infrastructure Fund, upgrading health infrastructure such as hospitals, emergency rooms, and urgent care centres.
- A direct delivery stream that will provide $6 billion to support regionally significant projects, large building retrofits, climate adaptation, or community infrastructure. This could include clean-energy generation and storage projects, flood protection, and new community and recreational spaces.
- A community stream that will provide $27.8 billion for local roads, bridges, water systems, and community centres – getting the basics right and helping towns and cities grow.
The Federal Government also indicated the development and advancement of several strategies and earlier stage projects that could help to transform Canada, including the Alto High-Speed Rail.
The 2025 Budget delivers on a commitment made under the Building Canada Act to launch a Federal Government Major Projects Office (MPO). The MPO is to serve as a single point of contact to get nation-building projects built. The first major nation-building projects, which were previously announced by the Prime Minister in September 2025, are confirmed in the 2025 Budget:
Source: Government of Canada
