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Ontario has reached another &#8220;new deal&#8221; with one of its major cities.
Premier Doug Ford on Thursday announced a $543 million funding agreement with the City of Ottawa that would also see the province upload Highway 174, a major thoroughfare that acts as the backbone for the east-end road network.
News of the funding announcement was first reported by iPolitics.
&#8220;We&#8217;re announcing a new deal for Ottawa that will help the city continue rebuilding the economy and deliver on key priorities including building highways and homes,&#8221; Ford said during a speech at a mayor&#8217;s breakfast series event, where he was joined by Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe.
Ford singled out the infrastructure piece of the Ottawa deal, saying his government was making a conscious decision to invest in housing, hospitals, roads and transit despite a challenging economic environment because it would improve the lives of Ontarians.
&#8220;Budgets only last a year or two and then they&#8217;re back in balance and we have a surplus. But infrastructure lasts 50 to 100 years,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;So, we chose the route to keep spending on infrastructure [because] you can never go wrong if you invest in the hospitals and schools and roads and highways.&#8221;
That messaging was pulled from Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy&#8217;s budget, tabled on Tuesday.
Ontario is projecting a nearly $10 billion deficit for 2024-25, blaming sluggish growth and declining tax revenues for pushing the province further into the red.
But the budget outlines plans for billions in new spending on infrastructure and targeted investments to spur development of the lucrative Ring of Fire mineral deposit and support training initiatives for skilled tradespeople.
One of the most high-profile items was the already announced $1 billion new municipal infrastructure fund aimed at supporting home construction, as well as over $600 million to help build and upgrade water and wastewater infrastructure.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.ipolitics.ca/news/ford-to-announce-new-municipal-funding-deal-with-the-city-of-ottawa-source">Ford to announce new municipal funding deal with the City of Ottawa: source</a>
As part of the deal with Ottawa, the province dedicated $20 million to Invest Ottawa to help revitalize the city&#8217;s downtown core, which has struggled to recover from the pandemic as many of its office buildings mostly sit empty owing to the large number of federal public servants working from home.
During his speech on Thursday, Ford said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau needs to get federal public servants back to working in the office for at least a few days a week. A federal government-wide mandate implemented last year required public servants to work out of their offices at least two to three days a week.
Overall, Ontario is pledging up to $197 million over three years in provincial operating supports and up to $346 million over 10 years in capital supports. This includes funding for the Kanata North Transitway and a new interchange at Highway 416 and Barnsdale Road, which was announced in Tuesday&#8217;s provincial budget.
Ford also said the province would help build a new neighbourhood police operations centre in the ByWard Market. 
Ford called on the feds to play their part in rebuilding the city&#8217;s economy, as well as helping with shelter funding for asylum seekers and cover policing costs. The City of Ottawa shoulders most of the policing costs related to managing protests directed at the federal government.
The announcement of the Ottawa agreement comes months after the province reached a similar &#8220;new deal&#8221; with Toronto that saw Ontario commit millions in funding and upload two major highways.
When asked by iPolitics if similar major cities in Ontario could expect these sorts of new deals, Ford said Ottawa and Toronto are unique and the province has already committed billions in funding for other cities.
&#8220;Those two cities are very, very unique obviously. Ottawa has their their challenges [as the] capital, and Toronto is the largest city, third largest between the U.S. and Canada. So, they have their challenges but we we pour money into these other cities&#8230; from infrastructure to other funding,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;We&#8217;re spending a lot of money supporting other regions right now.&#8221;
In a statement, the Ontario NDP said the announcement falls short of what is required to meaningfully improve housing and public transit in Ottawa.
“We needed funding that would help Ottawa to invest in areas it has been forced to neglect,&#8221; said Joel Harden, the NDP MPP for Ottawa Centre. “We are losing seven units of affordable housing for every one unit that is built, and there is a 10-year waiting period in Ottawa for social housing. Our transit system has 74,000 fewer service hours due to provincial cuts. We need support in these and other crucial areas.”

Ford announces ‘new deal’ with Ottawa