To the editor:
Investments in public infrastructure are the single most cost-effective way for the government of Canada to help drive jobs and growth.
So why are the Conservatives slashing new funding for the biggest federal infrastructure fund by 90 per cent?
The old Building Canada Fund had grown to about $1.6 billion a year for community infrastructure projects across the country. But this year, new money for the fund drops off a cliff, falling by close to 90 per cent to just $210 million a year, starving municipalities of federal support.
Funding will not recover for five years – punted into political never-never land.
Conservatives argue the total 10-year fund has never been bigger. But the reality is that those funds are heavily back-end loaded, postponing investments that should be made today for years.
There couldn’t be a worse time. Canada’s economic growth and job creation continue to be well below our potential, and unemployment is stubbornly stuck around seven per cent. An infrastructure program would not only help create growth today, it would lay the foundation for greater future prosperity.
Properly done, the dividends would be ongoing for a very long time. Federal investments in the Pacific Gateway helped ramp up the ability of our ports to handle more cargo, boosting exports from British Columbia and the rest of Canada.
The provinces all agree. Municipal governments agree. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce agrees. The only partner offside is the Conservative government in Ottawa.
Instead of cutting the Building Canada Fund to help conjure a surplus in time for the next election, the government should be accelerating infrastructure investments to make a transformative boost to our economy today – and tomorrow.
David McGuinty, Liberal MP
Transport, Infrastructure and Communities critic