JENNIFER LEWINGTON

From Friday's Globe and Mail Last updated on Friday, Sep. 11, 2009 03:15AM EDT

When federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Infrastructure Minister John Baird announce stimulus cash for Toronto today the list of approved projects won't include $38-million for a pedestrian tunnel to the island airport, sources say.

But that doesn't mean Ottawa has ruled out partly funding the controversial proposal; a decision on that request could come later, the sources said.

The Toronto Port Authority, a federal agency, asked Ottawa earlier this year to help pay for the tunnel, a project Mayor David Miller opposes and which he did not include on a wish list of projects the city submitted to the federal government this summer.

Toronto is in line for tens of millions of dollars for sewers, road repairs and other projects under the federal government's $4-billion Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, which requires the projects be mostly completed by March 31, 2011.

After Ottawa rejected Toronto's first application for a one-third share of a $1.2-billion deal for 204 replacement streetcars, the city reapplied for $204-million in funds that meet the federal criteria for "shovel-ready" projects with the potential to create local jobs.