The City of Ottawa’s chief financial officer says the city and the province are getting closer to a deal on the promised upload of Highway 174 in Ottawa’s east end. The uploading of the 174 was part of the 2024 Ontario-Ottawa deal, and includes a three-stage, phased plan, according to the province. Speaking to councillors at Tuesday’s finance and corporate services committee meeting, Cyril Rogers said talks are “well down the line” when it comes to the province taking ownership of the road, which a previous provincial government had downloaded to the city nearly 30 years ago. “We’re close. We’re not quite there yet, but that work is in a good position,” Rogers said, in response to a question from Coun. Matt Luloff. While the negotiations continue, the government has offered millions of dollars to the city to support expenses on the highway. “The commitment is there through the Ontario-Ottawa deal. We’re receiving the funding, as they committed to. We’re in the final stages of the due diligence process,” Rogers said. He would not speak to the timing of when the upload might occur, saying it is ultimately up to the Ontario government, be he said he is “really, really, really confident” about the eventual upload. As part of the Ontario-Ottawa deal, the province said it would provide $197 million in provincial operating support over three years, and $346 million in provincial capital support over 10 years, some of which is for maintenance and rehabilitation of the 174 while the upload negotiations are underway. “We certainly are seeing that funding being spent on the 174,” Luloff said. “Last night, we had line painting, which has been desperately needed through Cumberland Village and into Orléans.” LRT upload more complex This past April, Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria met with Mayor Mark Sutcliffe to “recommit” to the upload of the 174 and of the O-Train, the latter of which was an election promise by Premier Doug Ford in 2025. Rogers said the LRT upload, which city staff have said would free up more than $80 million in expenses per year, is more complex. “If I go back to my private industry days in mergers and acquisitions, these things are complex,” he said. “The discussions are ongoing. They’ve certainly advanced, they’ve certainly increased in frequency since we signed the MoU, so these are things that I’m optimistic on,” he said. Rogers also said he remains confident that the Ontario government will come through with $47 million in funding for Ottawa’s transit system. A line item in the 2026 transit budget included the expected funding, which has yet to be confirmed. The 2025 budget had a similar line of expected funding from senior levels of government that was never realized. Rogers says there is cash in the city’s tax stabilization reserve to cover the $47 million shortfall if the province does not come through this year. “When we put that placeholder there for provincial funding… the risk mitigation and the backstop was to have a higher target in our tax stabilization reserve,” he said. “If that $47 million, worst case scenario, doesn’t come through, the tax stabilization is there to bill for that.”
