Patrick Brown and Liberal incumbents used election-style event to trumpet misleading claims about federal money for Brampton LRT 

The announcement on March 21st was glossy and well executed. It was attended by Brampton elected officials from all three levels of government, supposedly there to celebrate federal funding being awarded to the City of Brampton to support the nearly $3 billion tunnelled extension of the Hurontario LRT into downtown–an unapproved plan that has yet to receive any funding.

The heading of the press release from the City declared: “City of Brampton welcomes federal funding support for the development of rapid transit tunnel”. 

Just two days before the start of the federal election, the well choreographed event was a perfect opportunity for the Brampton Liberal incumbents in attendance, who just months earlier feared losing their seat in a Conservative wave that had been taking shape for more than a year. 

Brampton PC MPP and provincial Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria, reelected just a month earlier in a snap Ontario election, smiled for photos and autographed a giant rendering of the future LRT with the title: “Brampton’s tunnelled LRT is on the way!” 

For Mayor Patrick Brown and his fellow councillors, the announcement was promoted as a significant victory, one Brown has been promising since he was first elected in 2018, when he immediately claimed to have federal and provincial funding commitments to pay for his idea to tunnel the LRT, which would cost three times more than a surface alignment.

There was never any funding commitment back then, and despite the misleading claims last month, no money for the LRT was included in the funding that Ottawa actually announced. 

This did not stop Brampton Liberal incumbents, Brown and his council allies from holding up a large billboard that falsely claimed money for “Brampton’s Tunnelled LRT is on the way!”

Currently the LRT is being built along Hurontario from Mississauga’s lakeshore to Steeles Avenue at the southern end of Brampton, and is set to turn around there. Transit advocates in Brampton have long called for the project’s extension into the downtown core, to better connect with the city’s existing transit system.

Brampton councillors, MPs and MPPs gather to celebrate what many believed was federal funding being awarded for the Hurontario LRT extension.

(City of Brampton)

While the city’s elected officials in attendance at the recent event seemed to have no problem using misleading language and having residents believe the long-awaited LRT extension was finally getting some money, the entire announcement was little more than a pre-election public relations boost.

Brown, who has made no secret of his dislike for Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, was perfectly happy sharing the stage with all five federal Liberal incumbents to give them a big local win—even if the pretext was blatantly misleading—right before the campaign started (a new sixth riding is being contested in the city for the first time this election).

What the federal government had actually announced was a commitment to support an extension of the LRT project into downtown Brampton; but money will only be provided if strict funding criteria are met, as noted in its own press release. 

These conditions, including the need to meet specific housing requirements in the project area, the need to have land-use approvals met and “contribution agreements” in place with all the required partners in the plan, have not yet been addressed. 

Brampton has yet to have an environmental assessment completed for the project, and critics have pointed out that the need to tunnel under Etobicoke Creek and through a provincially designated floodplain, could make the project unviable due to environmental risks.

When reached for clarification on whether any funding was attached to the announcement, which served as little more than symbolic support right before the election, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada (HICC) explained that the government would support the project through a stream of the Canada Public Transit Fund (CPTF), a newly created funding mechanism announced in 2024 that provides $3 billion annually for public transit infrastructure. The Metro Region Agreement (MRA), which the government is directing Brampton to apply for if it wants a chance at any funding for the LRT, is dedicated to transit expansion in Canada’s big cities. 

“Funding disbursed through the (CPTF) is neither a grant nor a loan; it is a federal investment relying on a contribution agreement between the recipient and the Government of Canada,” a spokesperson told The Pointer. 

When asked for further clarity on whether Brampton has received any federal funding as a result of the March 21st announcement, the spokesperson stated “no specific monetary commitment was made to the LRT expansion project as part of the (CPTF) Metro-Region Agreement stream announcement on March 21, 2025.”

In January, the federal government announced $106 million over 10 years (starting in 2026) for the City of Brampton, but this was for expansion, repair and upkeep for Brampton’s existing transit system. For the LRT to receive funding, the necessary environmental assessment would need to be completed, according to the guide. 

According to the HICC spokesperson, any LRT funding proposal would have to include the development of an Integrated Regional Plan; the signing of a Metro Region Agreement for the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH) and meeting all housing conditionality requirements of the program. The CPTF only allows projects that can prove they will support the creation of transit-oriented communities. As the website states: “(Recipients) will be required to take actions that directly unlock housing supply where it is needed most.”

Part of Brampton’s application must also include a completed project business case from the Province of Ontario.

This is before the environmental considerations of tunnelling the LRT through a floodplain into downtown are considered. When asked about whether the federal government had reviewed any environmental studies ahead of the March 21 announcement, the spokesperson declined to comment, only noting those studies are currently being completed by Metrolinx and that the federal ministry will “undertake a thorough review of the completed business case for the project, when submitted by the province.”

Questions remain about Brampton’s own financial preparedness, a key condition in most federal infrastructure funding programs, which typically require municipalities to contribute a portion of the total cost. According to the Submission Guide for the MRA stream, the maximum assistance provided for projects will be 40 percent of eligible costs. This means if the City of Brampton is awarded the maximum amount, it would still need to find more than $1.12 billion. Brown, who has pushed tax freezes for the City budget, has failed to put away any money for his tunnelled LRT plan, which remains entirely unfunded.

To clarify the City’s financial readiness, The Pointer contacted Brampton’s media relations team, asking how much the City plans to contribute; if any money has been set aside in reserves to apply for the LRT project; and when officials intend to formally apply for CPTF funding. City staff have not responded.

ABOVE: A tweet thread from Mayor Patrick Brown in which he spreads the misleading narrative that the March 21 announcement came with a federal “investment”. BELOW: Tweets from federal Liberal incumbents Maninder Sidhu, sharing a post from Brampton Councillor Harkirat Singh, and Kamal Khera sharing a post from the City of Brampton spreading the same misleading information. (X)

The $2.8 billion tunnelled extension of the Hazel McCallion LRT — stretching north from the Gateway Terminal at Steeles Avenue to downtown Brampton — has been touted as a transformative infrastructure project for one of Canada’s fastest-growing cities.

According to the federal government’s March 21st announcement, the LRT extension has the potential to enable 33,000 housing units and generate over 17,000 jobs.

Doug Ford, just prior to the recent election campaign that led to his latest victory, arrived at Brampton City Hall in January right after calling an early provincial election set for February 27 and made a similar campaign-style promise to extend the LRT into downtown via a tunnel. 

When The Pointer asked whether, through any financial assessment, Ford had exact figures regarding an updated cost of the project, which was estimated at $2.8 billion two years ago, he couldn’t provide the amount.

"We don't have an exact figure, but we will be getting that exact figure," Ford replied during the January 25 presser. "But we know one figure if we don't build it, and that's the figure that's unacceptable. We need to build proper transit for the people of Brampton, and that's exactly what we're going to do."

Premier Doug Ford avoided The Pointer’s question in a press conference in January this year regarding the cost to fund Brampton’s tunnelled LRT project.

(Muhammad Hamza/The Pointer)

When asked if he would include the money for the ambitious project in the 2025 budget if re-elected, he sidestepped again: "Yes, once we get the exact numbers, we'll make them public."

The provincial government has not budgeted any money for the LRT extension into downtown.

Meanwhile, local candidates vying for federal office in Brampton-area ridings are facing growing pressure to explain how they will work with the City to ensure the project moves forward and whether their party is serious about delivering long-promised support for transit infrastructure in the region. The Pointer contacted Liberal, Conservative, and NDP candidates to ask how they plan to support Brampton’s application for CPTF funding and when they believe construction should begin. As of publication, none have responded.

The Pointer's 2025 federal election coverage is partly supported by the Covering Canada: Election 2025 Fund. 

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Email: [email protected]

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