QUOTED: David Soknacki, on funding for new subways in Toronto

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“I’m also not afraid to talk about taxes, because transit is not free.”

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—Earlier this morning, former city councillor David Soknacki became the second mayoral candidate to articulate something resembling a plan to pay for the ever-popular Downtown Relief Line. During an interview on CBC’s Metro Morning, he said that he would consider various transit-dedicated taxes, including hikes to income tax, HST, sales tax and property tax. In a political environment dominated by respect-the-taxpayers rhetoric, this qualifies as a bold move.

John Tory and Rob Ford, both of whom have also promised to prioritize the Relief Line, haven’t yet said how they’d raise the multiple billions of dollars needed to build it. Yesterday, Karen Stintz announced that she’d fund a small portion of the cost by selling part of Toronto Hydro, the city-owned electricity provider.