New Infrastructure Announcements Support Parks and Recreation

At the end of August, two important announcements were made regarding funding for municipal infrastructure in Ontario. 

1. Investing in Ontario Act The Government of Ontario announced an investment of $1.1 billion to support capital projects such as roads and bridges, public transit, safe water and community sport and recreation.  This funding is the result of the Investing in Ontario Act, which allocates any government surplus above $600 million to flow to municipalities to fund infrastructure projects.  The funds are distributed on a per capita basis to single, upper- and lower-tier municipalities.  Funding can be used for any municipal capital expenditure. To read the news release from Premier McGuinty, please click here.

2. Building Canada Infrastructure Plan:  Communities Component In July, Ontario signed the Building Canada Fund agreement with the Federal Government.  This Framework Agreement is worth more than $6.2 billion and will help address infrastructure needs and priorities in Ontario until 2014. As part of that framework, the Federal and Ontario governments signed the Communities Component of the Building Canada Fund.  The Communities Component will provide $724 million in infrastructure funding to rural and small urban communities across Ontario.  Funds will be awarded through a competitive process.  Information on the first intake of applications (total investment of $200 million) will be available online at the Building Canada – Ontario website on September 12, 2008. 

There are 17 eligible categories including:  drinking and wastewater systems, public transit, green energy, disaster mitigation, roads, and sport and culture (note: recreation was not listed separately).  Overall, the Building Canada Agreement (Ontario) will flow $6.2 billion in provincial and federal funds to municipalities for infrastructure.  All funding received by municipalities is cost-matched by federal, provincial and municipal governments, resulting in a total of $9.3 billion in infrastructure spending over 7 years. To learn more about the Building Canada Communities Component, please click here.

PRO in Action:  Parks and Recreation Ontario will monitor all infrastructure funding programs and keep members informed of developments. PRO will again be collecting information about community infrastructure priorities in order to continue to position our sector’s needs with both the Federal and Provincial Governments.   As part of an ongoing Recreation, Sport and Green Infrastructure Renewal Strategy, PRO continues to advocate for stable, on-going, dedicated funding. For more information, please contact: Diane English, Communications Officer 416-426-7306 / denglish@prontario.org