Dr. Josipa Petrunic, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Urban Transit Research & Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC), released the following statement related to the Government of Canada’s Budget 2021

The Canadian Urban Transit Research & Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC) is Canada’s leading non-profit responsible for the development and commercialization of low-carbon transit.

CUTRIC welcomes the Government of Canada’s Budget 2021 focused on protecting the health of Canadians while harnessing the COVID-19 recovery to create jobs and economic growth, more inclusive communities and an improved environment.

Budget 2021 furthers the federal government’s historic commitments for low-carbon transit through a first-of-its-kind permanent public transit fund, focused on meeting its zero-emission bus targets. These commitments will help Canada reach net-zero by 2050 through supporting Canadians with green jobs, cleaner air and better public transit services. They will also ensure battery electric, hydrogen fuel cell electric and renewable natural gas-powered buses are deployed nation-wide sooner rather than later thereby improving local air quality, reducing global emissions and advancing the post-pandemic green economic recovery. 

The federal government also proposes incentivizing the manufacturing of zero-emission technologies, which will support our innovation ecosystem and ensure Canada remains competitive globally as the sector further emerges.

Budget 2021 includes welcomed additional funding to the Strategic Innovation Fund, focused on making Canada a top destination for businesses to invest, create jobs and secure economic growth for Canadians and that includes CUTRIC’s National Smart Vehicle Joint Procurement Initiative, which aims to standardise and deploy electric low-speed automated shuttle (e-LSA) technologies as solutions to first km/last km gaps in transit.

CUTRIC also recognizes this historic moment, with Canada’s first budget presented by a female Minister of Finance, who also serves as Deputy Prime Minister. Better decisions are made with diverse voices at the table, including in the business and non-profit sectors, and CUTRIC will continue to champion women leaders to make decisions related to public transit, which mostly serves women.

About CUTRIC

CUTRIC is a non-profit innovation consortium with a vision to make Canada a global leader in low-carbon smart mobility. Through industry-led collaborative research and large-scale technology integration trials, CUTRIC is working to achieve this goal by focusing on technology development, integration and standardization of low-carbon propulsion systems and smart vehicle systems, data-driven analytics in mobility, and cybersecurity in transportation.

Media Contact

Grace Reilly
514-244-3244

[email protected]

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