Responding to longstanding calls for predictable and stable funding for municipal infrastructure projects, Premier Kathleen Wynn announced a $100 million program for small, rural and northern municipalities.
At a press conference in St. Thomas on August 18, Wynne said, “I believe the success of our small, rural and northern communities is intrinsically connected to the success of our entire province. The fund we are launching today will help build up our infrastructure, and create jobs and opportunity in every part of the province.”
Promised in the Liberal’s July budget, the Ontario Community Infrastructure fund provides $50 million annually for municipalities by formula and the remaining $50 million by application for critical road, bridge or sewage projects.
Township of Woolwich chief administrative officer David Brenneman called the plan a step in the right direction.
“We are very pleased by this announcement as this is something the township, along with other municipalities, have long advocated for,” he said. “It finally confirms that all three levels of government, federal, provincial and local all agree that if we are going to deal with the infrastructure deficit issue, which is Canada wide, we are going to have to partner together.”
In contrast to lump-sum support like the infrastructure stimulus funding of the past, the new system will give municipal governments the ability to do long-term planning for infrastructure projects and repairs, Brenneman said.
“We’ve long said that we are willing to be a part of the solution and in fact our council a number of years ago chose to implement a special infrastructure levy because it hoped that its advocacy efforts were going to be successful so that we could leverage dollars from a fund like this with money that we’ve been putting away in a reserve fund.”
The premier also outlined the details for the Small Communities fund, which will see $274 million allotted by both the provincial and federal governments for infrastructure projects in Ontario communities with less than 100,000 residents.
In a statement, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario president Ross Powers expressed support for the new programs, while adding that, “municipalities own more infrastructure than any other order of government, and much of it needs to be repaired or replaced.”
The formula that will be used to allocate money from the Ontario Community Fund is expected to be released later this fall.
