At a press conference on Tuesday, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe mentioned there’s no specific timeline yet, but the Government of Ontario has reaffirmed its commitment to take over Ottawa’s light rail transit system and Highway 174.
This initiative, which began as a campaign promise by Doug Ford in February 2025, is gradually becoming clearer for Ottawa residents as the city and the provincial government have signed an agreement to “advance the upload” of the well-known Line 1 along with the eastern highway.
The mayor expressed his enthusiasm about this “milestone” being realized just a day after Premier Ford confirmed his commitment during a Q&A session. The agreement was signed by Sutcliffe and Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria on April 21.
“This is a giant step forward in that process to sign a deal with the provincial minister that reaffirms the commitment to complete the upload, and that outlines a little bit of the framework for how that’s going to work from here,” Ottawa’s mayor said. “It’s about huge financial impact of billions and billions of dollars on our city, the ability to reinvest in public transit, and build a better transit service going forward.”
While he didn’t go into many details, Sutcliffe did mention that this agreement lays out clear cooperation between both levels of government regarding this issue.
“This is a very, very complicated transaction,” Sutcliffe said. “What’s going to be included, what’s not going to be included. There are a lot of different pieces to it and a lot of work that has to be done. So, this is the next big milestone to reaffirm the commitment and establish the framework for how the work is going to get done.”
Sutcliffe couldn’t provide any timelines for when this process would unfold but did point out that the province made an earlier commitment regarding Highway 174 before addressing LRT matters; that agreement is still being developed.
“(It) doesn’t mean they’re not going to happen it just takes time,” he noted.
In March 2024, both parties reached an agreement worth $543 million which included plans for uploading Highway 174 in phases. According to Sutcliffe, they are “a lot closer to the finish line” on this highway since discussions began earlier.
The city council has consistently voiced their concerns about how “unfair” treatment from the province feels compared to other cities concerning public transit issues. The geographic challenges facing Ottawa don’t help either. With this new agreement, LRT will fall under Metrolinx’s jurisdiction-similar systems seen in Toronto, Mississauga, Hamilton and Brampton.
Recently, Metrolinx sent new axles over to help repair several LRT vehicles still out of operation due to problems identified back in January. This sparked renewed discussions around Ontario’s promise regarding easing Ottawa’s burdens related to LRT operations.
Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe with Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria. The pair signed a deal to move the upload of the LRT forward. (Mark Sutcliffe/ X)
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