Second installment of annual $2-billion transfer available for municipal infrastructure
Ottawa, Ontario, November 14, 2013 – This week, the Government of Canada is making available the second installment of the annual $2-billion federal Gas Tax Fund for municipal infrastructure. The Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister of Infrastructure, Communities, and Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, announced today that this payment brings the Government of Canada's investments in municipal infrastructure through the Gas Tax Fund to $13 billion.
"The Harper Government's commitment to provide stable, predictable funding to all municipalities is unwavering. Investments through the federal Gas Tax Fund are helping communities across Canada to address their local infrastructure priorities,"
said Minister Lebel. "This second payment for 2013 will support thousands of infrastructure projects across the country."
Canada's Gas Tax Fund provides predictable, long-term funding for Canadian municipalities to help them build and revitalize their local public infrastructure while creating jobs and long term prosperity. Funding is provided up front, twice a year to provinces and territories which in turn flow this funding to their municipalities. Projects are chosen by local government and support the local infrastructure priorities of each community. Municipalities can pool, bank and borrow against this funding, providing significant financial flexibility.
The Gas Tax Fund has supported water and wastewater infrastructure, public transit, community energy systems, solid waste management and local roads. To date, close to 40 per cent of Gas Tax Funds have gone toward supporting public transit projects across the country, with 28 per cent having supported local roads, and close to 25 per cent having supported water and wastewater projects in Canada.
Some examples of these important projects across Canada include improving Admirals Road in Esquimalt, British Columbia, to provide a safer and more efficient route; upgrading drinking water systems in Lévis,Quebec; building a state-of-the-art organic waste processing facility in Guelph, Ontario; and, purchasing new environmentally friendly buses in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In addition, five of Canada's largest cities — Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Ottawa — have dedicated most of their Gas Tax funding to public transit projects.
"We are continuously investing in infrastructure projects that create jobs, promote productivity and support economic growth. And now our Government is delivering the largest, long-term infrastructure plan in Canadian history, and the Gas Tax Fund will continue to be a source of predictable and permanent funding that will meet local needs,"
added Minister Lebel. "We have extended, doubled, indexed and now made permanent the Gas Tax Fund."
Economic Action Plan 2013 builds on the Government of Canada's investments with $70 billion for public infrastructure, including the $53 billion New Building Canada Plan to build roads, bridges, subways, commuter rail, and other public infrastructure in cooperation with provinces, territories, and municipalities over 10 years, starting in 2014-15.
Included under the New Building Canada Plan is the renewed Gas Tax Fund, which will be indexed at 2 per cent per year, with increases to be applied in $100 million increments, starting in 2014. Over the 10-year life of the plan from 2014 to 2024, the Gas Tax Fund will represent close to $22 billion in funding for municipalities. In addition, starting in 2014, the program will cover more categories of investment than ever before, meaning more flexibility for municipalities to address their infrastructure priorities.
To read more about the story of the Gax Tax Fund, please visit the Gas Tax Fund page on our website.
For additional information about federal investments in infrastructure visit Infrastructure Canada or follow us on Twitter at @INFC_eng.
For further information about Canada's Economic Action Plan, visit Canada's Economic Action Plan.
Marie-Josée Paquette
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Infrastructure, Communities and Intergovernmental Affairs and
Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec
613-943-1838
Infrastructure Canada
613-960-9251
Toll free: 1-877-250-7154
