Feds, province to give $4B to municipalities for COVID-19 recovery

By news staff

In an agreement the province is calling historic, the Ontario and federal governments have partnered to provide $4 billion to municipalities in urgently needed COVID-19 recovery funding.

The money is a one-time funding to help relieve financial pressures for shelters, food banks, public health, and transit.

In the agreement, Ottawa is providing $777 million and $1.22 billion is coming from the province in support for municipalities.

The money from Ottawa is part of the Safe Restart Agreement, which would see $19 billion handed out across the country – of which Ontario will be getting $7 billion.

Watch: Ford calls agreement a “great deal” for Ontario


“By working together, we have united the country in the face of the immense challenges brought on by COVID-19 and secured a historic deal with the federal government to ensure a strong recovery for Ontario and for Canada,” Premier Doug Ford said in a release.

Ford added that up to $2 billion of the funding will go towards transit — that money provided equally by the province and the federal government.

The province said the transit money will go to assist the financial issues facing the systems during COVID-19, and help the systems continue to operate safely.

There has been no word on what the rest of the more than $5 billion in federal money will go toward.

Watch: Unclear how much of new municipal funding Toronto to receive


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