The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is raising affordability concerns regarding the federal and Ontario government’s plan to spend $28.5 billion on transit projects for the Greater Toronto Area.

“The feds are already more than $1 trillion in debt, so how does Prime Minister Justin Trudeau think taxpayers have any money to pay for this?” said Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director for the CTF. “Trudeau needs to put down the credit card and stop throwing around IOUs that taxpayers can’t afford.”

The federal government is committing more than $10 billion for four subways in the GTA, according to a government of Ontario news release. The province has committed $17 billion.

The federal government’s debt has surpassed $1 trillion, which is more than $28,000 per Canadian. Budget 2021 is nearly doubling the federal government’s debt from $721 billion in 2019-20 to $1.4 trillion in 2025-26. The Ontario government’s debt is $400 billion.

“Ontario Premier Doug Ford promised to end the party with taxpayers’ money, but this is a huge spending commitment from a government that has no money,” said Jay Goldberg, the CTF’s Interim Ontario Director. “Ontario is already the most indebted subnational jurisdiction in the entire world and this announcement is further evidence that the Ford government needs to recommit to bringing sanity back to the province’s finances.”