New Building Canada Fund
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT in recognition of the responsibility municipalities have fro the majority of infrastructure and in support of the goals of the federal program, that the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association urge the Government of Alberta:
• Honour the intent of the program to facilitate the necessary building of municipal infrastructure in communities across Canada and create a program eligibility list for the New Build Canada Fund that is based on municipal priorities and not the list of capital projects for the provincial government; and
• Provide provincial matching funds to projects that meet the federal government criteria and are successful through the application process.
WHEREAS the Federal Government announced in 2014 the New Building Canada Fund (NBCF) which is a 10-year infrastructure program based on matching grant program with three components: the national infrastructure component (NIC), the provincial territorial component (PTIC) and the provincial territorial component small communities fund (PTIC –SCF):
• The National and Regional Projects (NIC and PTIC): $9 billion for projects that are nationally and regionally significant, and are predominantly medium and large scale in nature, and
• Small Communities Fund: $1 billion for projects in communities under 100,000 residents, designed to ensure that small communities have access to significant funding in support ofeconomic prosperity;
WHEREAS in Alberta, the Government of Alberta’s approach is to leverage funds already committed in its current capital plan to determine what municipal projects would be eligible for provincial matching funding under the NIC or PTIC components; in this process the Government of Alberta has determined that certain projects, like regional airports, are not eligible;
WHEREAS the decision to use the Government of Alberta’s capital plan as the approved list of projects for provincial matching funds for the NBCF NIC/PTIC components was not made in consultation with municipalities;
WHEREAS municipalities contribute to national and regional health and prosperity and should be able to access all components of the program in partnership with their provincial governments;
WHEREAS limiting the provincial matching funds to small scale projects under the PTIC-SCF does not recognize the diverse infrastructure needs of all municipalities of all sizes and the required investments range from small to large scale projects; and
WHEREAS municipalities are responsible for 60 per cent of the infrastructure that supports economic growth and long-term prosperity of our communities and our country and thus should be equal partners at the table in allocating the federal funds that support infrastructure.
The Minister of Infrastructure’s November 2015 response indicated that several municipal projects are being considered for the provincial/regional component, but there were no details about the specific projects. The letter also stated that municipalities with a population of less than 100,000 were not eligible for the provincial/regional component.
AUMA rejects the response.
Update: The Building Canada fund was replaced by the Investing in Canada Fund. A detailed outline of the new program, AUMA analysis, and webinars can be found on AUMA’s Investing in Canada page.