Henry: Hopeful infrastructure dollars will flow soon
Group of 17 mayors head to Parliament Hill to see when billions of promised funds would start to make its way to cities
By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express
A meeting with the prime minister and a collection of other big city leaders has Mayor John Henry optimistic the city will soon see federal infrastructure dollars flow its way.
Earlier this month, Justin Trudeau and Adam Vaughn, the MP for Trinity-Spadina and the newly appointed parliamentary secretary for intergovernmental affairs, met with members of the Large Urban Mayors Caucus of Ontario (LUMCO) in Ottawa to discuss the budget allocation of infrastructure dollars, how those funds will make their way down to municipal pocketbooks, along with plans to create jobs and deal with affordable housing issues.
A group of 17 mayors attended the meeting, Henry among them, and top of mind for most was how and when they would begin to see portions of the $120 billion committed to infrastructure over the next 10 years through this year’s federal budget.
And the clock is ticking, says Henry, who hopes the funds arrive in time for this year’s construction season.
“They understood the situation that we’re in and recognized that they need to get it out the door,” Henry says.
Previously, Henry expressed concern with how the funds would flow down to the municipalities, but following the meeting, he says things have become clearer.
Through a two-phase rollout, the federal government will start to pour extra dollars through each municipality’s gas tax allotment, along with offering more opportunities to apply for funding for different projects. The feds have also said some projects could be eligible for as much as 50 per cent funding in an effort to aid ailing municipalities struggling with aging infrastructure.
“He listened to us,” Henry said of the PM.
“I think we all agreed that this is a new day, a new direction and hopefully money will start to flow into our communities shortly, as promised.”
Henry says for Oshawa, the extra funds would be put toward developing and clearing up issues at the waterfront and roadwork projects.
With $789 million in infrastructure assets to preserve excluding land, the federal funds would mean a refreshing boost to the bottomline of Oshawa’s infrastructure issues, which includes an underfunded infrastructure gap of $212 million. According to the recently passed financial strategy, the city’s infrastructure reserves are historically underfunded. This will be helped with the creation of the new Infrastructure Renewal/Replacement reserve.
Oshawa is not alone, with other municipalities struggling to find ways of preserving their assets. For some cities, it means maintaining 60 per cent of the public infrastructure with only 10 per cent of every tax dollar collected.
Henry says Trudeau was sympathetic to the challenges.
“All around it was a great meeting,” Henry says. “Ontario was heard.”
Along with the prime minister, LUMCO also took the time in Ottawa to sit down with interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose, NDP leader Tom Mulcair, and several cabinet ministers including Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Infrastructure and Communities Minister Amarjeet Sohi and Transportation Minister Marc Garneau.
In total, LUMCO represents approximately 67 per cent of Ontario’s population and is chaired by Jeff Lehman, the mayor of Barrie.