Important Infrastructure Funding Information

From:  Larry Ketcheson, CEO Parks and Recreation Ontario

Parks and Recreation Ontario (PRO) needs your assistance in order to prepare our sector for major infrastructure funding initiatives at the provincial and federal level. 

Last year, as part of our commitment to develop an infrastructure renewal strategy for parks, sport and recreation, PRO conducted a survey of municipalities in order to create a registry of pending or planned capital infrastructure projects in the province.  Input through that survey allowed PRO to inform the government of capital funding priorities in municipalities across the province.  The result was an investment of $61 Million in community recreation projects through the Municipal Infrastructure Investment Initiative.  Over the past two years, close to $200 Million has been invested by the Provincial Government in sport and recreation infrastructure. 

PRO is pleased with the Government’s intention to further invest in municipal infrastructure – including sport and recreation facilities - through two recently announced capital initiatives.

• The Government of Ontario will investment of $1.1 Billion in municipal infrastructure to improve roads and bridges, expand public transit and build other project, including community sport, parks and recreation.  This is through the Investing in Ontario Act, which allocates government surpluses above $600 million to municipalities to fund infrastructure projects. 
• The Community Component of the Building Canada Program (a tri-lateral funding program) will be launched shortly, with a $200 Million infrastructure investment.

In anticipation that PRO will provide Government with advice regarding upcoming infrastructure investments, we are again collecting information on construction ready sport and recreation projects through a short questionnaire.  Clearly, our last survey paid dividends in terms of information on funding priorities for communities. We would therefore appreciate your help in preparing the next round of infrastructure investment possibilities.

We ask that you take just a few minutes to download the survey (Microsoft Excel format) and complete it.  You do not need to answer all of the questions, but the more information you can supply, the better our case will be.

This survey has been condensed from our last version.  We are concentrating on community recreation infrastructure projects that are:

1. currently under construction, or
2. planned within the next 18 months,

Thank you for your time and if you have any questions regarding this email or survey, please contact Diane English, Communications Officer, at 416-426-7306 or by email at denglish@prontario.org.  Completed surveys should also be returned to Diane English at Parks and Recreation Ontario at the email above or by fax at 416-426-7371 no later than October 1, 2008.

Please provide brief details about pending capital projects planned for your municipality (or, in the case of a not-for-profit, planned by your organization).  We are most interested in projects involving arenas, pools, community centres, major outdoor sports complexes including outdoor sports fields as well as active transportation projects such as trails or urban trail networks.  We would also like to know the total value of facility and equipment repair, replacement or renovation projects that you have planned for the future. 

Please ensure that your information is listed in the areas of the form that relate directly to the project’s timing.