THUNDER BAY – It’s up to cities to determine how to best utilize federal infrastructure funding, says the country’s prime minister.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stopped in Thunder Bay at transit headquarters on Friday afternoon, restating his Liberal government’s $3.4 billion public transit investment over three years made in last month’s budget.
Ontario will see nearly $1.5 billion of that total amount, though Trudeau did not provide a specific amount that is expected to flow to Thunder Bay.
Instead, in response to questions from local media, Trudeau said municipalities will come forward and tell the government what needs to be funded.
“How we’re looking forward to investing is by being an active partner to priorities municipalities, like Thunder Bay, put forward. It’s not up to Ottawa to start drawing lines on a map or saying this is what we want because we’re worried about our electoral base in this corner or that corner of the city or the community,” Trudeau said.
“It’s up to the local experts to tell us what they’re priorities are and how they want to grow the economy and for the federal government to be there as a partner to fund them to get things done.”
Though details were scarce, Coun. Joe Virdiramo said the theme of Ottawa partnering with municipalities and allowing them to decide their own plans is good news for the city.
“I’m also cautiously optimistic in relation to the next round of funding that’s coming down. He did say he’s going to leave it to municipalities to determine what the priorities are and what projects they have,” Virdiramo said.
“He wants us to propose what we need to do in the city of Thunder Bay, whether it’s economic development or keeping people working or some of the projects we’ve pushed forward may find some room in some funding envelopes that he said are coming later on.”
Specifically, Virdiramo sees the door being left open for the proposed event and convention centre. That project has been put on hold after the city was unable to secure the matching one-third federal funding under the previous Conservative government.
“We’ll continue to pursue the avenues we need to get the event centre on the road and built, if it’s this year or next year we don’t know,” he said.
For the public transit funding, Trudeau said the immediacy of the program means municipal leaders can quickly make their desired improvements.
“Municipalities will start to receive the funds they need to get started later this year,” he said. “To get projects moving more quickly the federal government will fund up to 50 per cent of the eligible cost for projects.”
Virdiramo said council still needs to determine the specific areas where the city wants to apply for the transit funding.
For the city, increasing the federal share to 50 per cent can go a long way towards new investment, such as starting to replace the current fleet. The purchase of one new bus was deferred during budget season.
“An extra few million dollars in some of these projects means a lot to municipalities like Thunder Bay, especially municipalities in the district with limited resources. Anything over and above that one-third portion is found money,” Virdiramo said.
