As a Canadian naturally you want to be proud of your country. You are generally interested in anything that is going to affect it in either a positive or negative way. Then if it something that is going to affect your province perhaps your interest raises a little higher. Now, if it’s directly affecting your municipality your interest is going to peak. This is understandable as changes to our country can have either a direct or indirect effect.
So the New Building Canada Plan is one that the Federal Government is hyped up about. What does this mean for you at the various levels we just outlined?
The New Building Canada Plan is being touted as the largest and longest federal infrastructure plan in Canadian history. Infrastructure refers to the structures we need to depend on. For example, roads, buildings and power supplies.
The Federal government has always been somewhat involved in our infrastructure across the country. After all, this is what part of our tax dollars is supposed to go towards right? Back in 2007 the Feds doled out $33 billion across the country for infrastructure. Now they are saying they are going to put up $75. billion over the next decade for public infrastructure.
The overall plan is made up of several sub-plans:
The community improvement fund:
- Gas tax fund
- Incremental Goods and services tax rebate for municipalities
This is supposed to provide over $32 billion to the municipalities to assist them with major projects like community infrastructure, public transit and recreational facilities as well as roads.
A New Building Canada fund consisting of $14.billion
o To support project of national significance for which $4.billion Is allotted to this
o Provincial-territorial infrastructure allotment of $10.billion for significant projects at the national, regional and local levels. For communities with less than 100,000 residents, there is $1.billion allotted to them out of this $10.billion.
P3 Canada Fund (Public-Private Partnerships)
This is getting an additional $1.25 billion in funding and is controlled by PPP Canada.
Existing Infrastructure programs
The federal government is proposing that the $6.billiion that is now currently flowing across the country for infrastructure will continue this year and beyond.
What does this mean for Ontario?
So now you know how much of a commitment the Federal government is making, how much of this $53. Billion that is being spread out over the ten year period is going to come to Ontario?
The bottom line is it looks like Ontario is going to get about $11. billion of dedicated funding. This includes….
$2.7 billion out of the New Building Canada Fund
$8.12 billion under the Federal Gas tax fund
Plus an extra….
$4 Billion for projects of national significance
$1.25 billion additional funding for P3 projects
Municipal level:
$10.4 billion from the GST rebate, which is supposed to provide municipalities with additional resources to help with their own specific infrastructure priorities.
Most likely by level of interest you are going to focus on the municipal level. This would include this $10.4 billion of additional resources. This doesn’t mean that this amount is going to your specific municipality, but in fact is being spread out over the 444 municipalities (as of 2013) that Ontario is comprised of. Also keep in mind that municipalities are broke down into categories such as upper, lower and single tier municipalities. There is set criteria in place for municipalities that determine their category.
At least this gives you an idea of where some of your Federal tax dollars are going, and a little insight as to what portion of the overall funding may dwindle down to your level.
