Strategy includes enshrining access to public transit as a human right in Canada.

Winnipeg, May 15, 2019 - On the one-hundred-year anniversary of the Winnipeg General Strike, over one hundred public transit workers from across Canada gathered in Winnipeg, Manitoba to launch the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Canada’s National Transit Strategy. The strategy focuses on building visionary public transit in Canada to fight climate change, increase mobility, and create ‘green’ jobs in hundreds of communities across Canada.

“Across our country, we hear from members that municipalities and provinces face many of the same issues, especially lack of operational funding,” said John Di Nino, ATU Canada President. “We’re launching this strategy because we need the federal government to step up and get public transit back on track.”

The National Transit Strategy begins with the premise that mobility is a human right and that public transit is the key to universal mobility. It supports the federal government’s plan to fight irreversible climate change and is also part of the government’s duty to indigenous people and is essential to reconciliation. The National Transit Strategy seeks to enshrine dedicated operational funding for public transit agencies, which are currently starved for funding. Finally, a National Transit Strategy will require the federal government to set quotas and targets for investments in ridership for public transit agencies.

“Riders, residents, and members are counting on the federal government to step up and provide world-class transit for an equitable, ‘green’, and accessible future,” said Di Nino. “The greatest challenges faced by our country can be addressed through dedicated operational funding.”

ATU Canada will be consulting with members and residents across Canada ahead of the federal election and will be working with all parties to ensure support for the strategy.

ATU Canada represents 34,000 transit professionals across Canada.

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