Feds may give Ottawa $1 deal on LRT land

The federal government says it will consider selling to the City of Ottawa the land it needs for proposed light-rail transit routes for just $1.

That information comes in an email sent by Transport Minister Chuck Strahl to Coun. Diane Deans (Gloucester-Southgate). Deans made the request independently this summer after city council voted against formally asking the government to sell the land at a discounted rate.

"It pays to ask," Deans told CBC News on Wednesday.

"I couldn't understand why (city council) wouldn't want to ask," she said. "And now it seems clear that the federal government is willing to move forward with that request and look favourably upon it."

In the email, Strahl writes that his government will explore opportunities to hand over the land for $1. But the minister also cautioned that some legal limitations may require the city to buy some of the land at market value.

Deans said the federal government would benefit from the light-rail plan, as it will increase property values near the rail lines, including Ottawa's west end where a major new station is planned for Tunney's Pasture.

Deans has been an outspoken critic of the plan's ballooning costs, which jumped to an estimated $2.1 billion in 2009.

"I really think the expectation of the public, who have already paid for that land once, is not to pay full market value the second time because it's being transferred between levels of government," Dean said.