What the Liberal win means for Toronto

The electorate has spoken: Stephen Harper is out and Justin Trudeau is in. Just four years after being obliterated under Michael Ignatieff (remember him?) the Liberal party has rebounded in a big way, taking the majority of the seats in the House of Commons and pushing the Conservatives into opposition. For Toronto, the ramifications of a change in government are potentially huge.

Here are 5 things Toronto can expect from under a Liberal government.

More money for transit
Trudeau and the Liberals campaigned on the promise of massive infrastructure spending. In all, the party pledged $20 billion for new transit infrastructure across the country. Some of that (about $660 million) will go to the Scarborough subway extension and maybe, just maybe, there will be enough in the pot for some of the cost of the relief line, too.

No jets at the Island airport, for now
If Porter Airlines wants permission to extend the runway in order operate jet aircraft out of the Island airport, it will need to get the green light from the new federal government. The Liberals said during the election they would be unwilling to allow downtown jet traffic, and so, for now, the idea looks dead.

New affordable housing
In September, Justin Trudeau promised a Liberal government would cover the cost of building new affordable housing in Toronto, some of it possibly on surplus federal land. Trudeau also said he would investigate how the federal government could tackle rising house prices in Toronto and other urban areas around the country.

Higher income tax for those who earn $200K+, less for those between $44,701 and $89,401
Higher taxes for high earners and tax cuts for the middle class were a central plank of the Grits' election campaign. Toronto's highest income families are mostly clustered downtown and in the neighbourhoods north of Bloor, west of the Don Valley Parkway and east the Spadina subway line.

More money for the CBC
Not only did the Liberals vow to reverse the Conservatives' $115 million CBC funding cut, the party also promised an additional $35 million a year for the cash-strapped public broadcaster, which, of course, has a major broadcast centre in Toronto. At the same announcement, the Liberals said they would provide an additional $360 million per year for the Canada Council for the Arts.

Follow Chris Bateman on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

by Chris Bateman via blogTO