Federal Infrastructure and Communities Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne called Monday an “historic day,” with the signing of a new provincial-federal agreement on infrastructure in St. John’s.
Under the umbrella agreement, $555.8 million will be made available to Newfoundland and Labrador between 2018-28 for community infrastructure projects.
“As far as I know this is probably the largest federal investment in infrastructure in the history of the province. This is a great moment,” Champagne told reporters, taking questions after the signing at city hall in St. John’s.
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Champagne’s fellow minister and MP for St. John’s South-Mount Pearl, Seamus O’Regan similarly spoke to historic levels of funding by the Liberal government.
The funding is for: public transit ($109 million); green infrastructure ($302 million); culture and recreation infrastructure ($40 million); rural and Northern communities infrastructure ($105 million; note that numbers do not add to total due to rounding).
Each of these categories covers a wide range of activity. For example, “green infrastructure” is considered to include projects increasing energy efficiency in buildings, sewer projects or projects adding to the ability to handle extreme weather events, to name a few examples.
The funding will flow in response to applications, following review under developed criteria.
The bilateral agreement covers the next decade. How much money actually flows in any given year will be largely dependent on applications made, meeting criteria and program demands. No specific amounts are expected to roll out in one year versus another.
The more than half a billion dollars over 10 years now committed describes only spending on the federal side. Any provincial and municipal funding for joint-funding projects would come on top of the federal contribution.
The federal funding commitment comes under the Canadian government’s “Investing in Canada” infrastructure plan, as part of more than $33 billion expected to be committed under new bilateral agreements for all provinces and territories.
