Project made possible thanks to federal Gas Tax Fund
Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia, November 16, 2013 – The District of St. Mary's now boasts a modern municipal building that will help improve the delivery of key services to residents. The new administration building houses municipal offices and Council chambers, and will benefit local community groups by providing them with adequate meeting and event space. The new building will also serve as the Emergency Management Office command centre for the municipality.
"Investing in social, cultural and civic resources is key when we want to ensure that our communities remain among the best in the world,"
said the Nova Scotia Regional Minister Peter MacKay. "This new building will centralize municipal services while providing opportunities for families and residents to gather together. Our government is proud to invest in infrastructure projects that generate economic growth and job creation through the federal Gas Tax Fund transfer here in the District of St. Mary's and across Canada."
"This new building provides the municipality with a modern facility that will bring the community together for meetings and events for many years to come,"
said Lloyd Hines, MLA for Guysborough—Eastern Shore—Tracadie, on behalf of the Honourable Mark Furey, Minister of Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations. "It is through the availability of the Gas Tax Fund that St. Mary's was able to build this structure in a timely and cost-effective manner."
The new administration building has achieved a level four Green Globe designation. This designation shows leadership in energy and environmental design practices and a commitment to continuous improvement and industry leadership in environmental practices such as energy efficiency, water conservation and choice of materials with lower environmental impact.
"The Municipality of the District of St Mary's is very proud of our new Green Globes certified administration building,"
says David Clark, Warden, Municipality of the District of St. Mary's. "The funding for this building was a result of the hard work and cooperation of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and both our federal and provincial governments. Allowing us to access the Gas Tax Funds was critical for St. Mary's Municipality to move forward with this project by providing 100 per cent of the capital funding. Not only will this facility fulfill our municipal needs, we have approximately 28 community organizations and services within the municipality that will also benefit from this enhanced community infrastructure."
The Municipality of the District of St. Mary's used its federal Gas Tax Fund allocation for the total project cost of $1,806,645.
The federal Gas Tax Fund transfer provides long-term funding to municipalities across the country to build and revitalize their local infrastructure. The Government of Canada has now made the GTF a permanent transfer that will grow from its current $2 billion per year while providing increased flexibility on how the money can be used to fund local infrastructure priorities. Discussions are underway with provinces and territories to renew the GTF agreements so that these improvements can be implemented as soon as possible. Through the Gas Tax Fund transfer alone, the Government of Canada provides $55.9 million in annual funding for municipal infrastructure in Nova Scotia. Between 2010 and 2014, the Municipality of the District of St. Mary's will receive $579,623 from the federal Gas Tax Fund.
Canada's Economic Action Plan 2013 is delivering a New Building Canada Plan to build roads, bridges, subways, commuter rail, and other public infrastructure in cooperation with provinces, territories, and municipalities. Thanks to the Government of Canada's leadership and our strong economic and financial fundamentals, the Canadian economy has recovered from the global recession better than most other industrialized countries. Canada has been a leader among G-7 countries throughout the recovery with more than 1 million net new jobs created since July 2009. The New Building Canada Plan, combined with other federal infrastructure investments, supports Canada's infrastructure advantage, a key enabler of economic growth and job creation.
For additional information about federal investments in infrastructure visit Infrastructure Canada or follow us on Twitter @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
Tracy Barron
Media Relations Advisor
Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations
902-424-2733
E-mail: barrontb@gov.ns.ca
Warden David Clark
Municipality of the District of St. Mary's
902-522-2049
E-mail: david.clark@saint-marys.ca
Infrastructure Canada
613-960-9251
Toll free 1-877-250-7154
