Details are trickling out about the newest round of federal infrastructure funding, leaving municipalities without concrete plans to start pouring concrete.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a few features of the new Building Canada Plan, a 10-year funding program replacing its expiring predecessor, as promised in the Conservatives' 2013 budget.
"Our government understand the vital importance of infrastructure and is proud to be implementing the largest long-term infrastructure plan in Canadian history," said Harper.
Set to come into effect April 1, the new plan includes the now-permanent and indexed Gas Tax Fund and Building Canada Fund, totaling nearly $3.9 billion in British Columbia alone.
Coun. Garth Frizzell, who sits on the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) board of directors, had a mixed reaction to the news.
On the good side, was the follow-through on indexing the Gas Tax Fund as well as the 10-year stability and predictability of the infrastructure money. The previous Building Canada program had a seven-year tenure, while the Gas Tax Fund was designed as a five-year envelope.
"That's one of the things we directly asked for," Frizzell said. "Ten years is very important and very helpful for us."
The renewed gas tax monies will be able to benefit projects such as highways, local and regional airports, short-line rail, short-sea shipping, disaster mitigation, broadband, brownfield redevelopment, recreation, culture, tourism and sport.
The Building Canada Fund envelope is for those that "provide the greatest economic impact" and - broken up into national and provincial categories - covers projects such as public transit, wastewater, green energy and post-secondary infrastructure that supports research and teaching.
Also on the good side is the introduction of a separate $1 billion fund for communities with populations of 100,000 and fewer.
It was clear through the consultation process that smaller communities needed the same access to predictable funds as major urban centres, said Harper at an event in Ontario.
And though they're "absolutely delighted" by the clear commitments from the federal government, the FCM is still cautiously optimistic, said Frizzell.
"Some of the rule changes on all of them are going to force us to do a second look," he said. "It could mean we're going to have to carry a bigger share of infrastructure costs."
"Important questions remain about how the rest of the new Building Canada Fund will be used to meet local needs," said FCM president Claude Dauphin in a statement. "Municipalities own a significant majority of public infrastructure and, for a fund that will span the next decade, we must be sure that it is used accordingly."
Included in the new funding program is more stringent screening for public private partnership (P3) potential.
Under the new rules, projects with total eligible costs of more than $100 million will be required to undergo screening to see if it could be successfully delivered through a P3 model. In that instance, federal funding would max out at 25 per cent.
Harper said the government would be working closely with the FCM to hash out the rest of the details, but time is running out, said Frizzell, citing 45 days left until the beginning of the spring construction season.
"We really need to get moving on this," he said.
Next month, the FCM board will meet in Thunder Bay, where the infrastructure funding plans will be prominent topic of discussion, "so we can communicate to member municipalities."
"Prince George is not the only place with a short building season," said Frizzell. "We've got to know what we're doing and get to it quickly."
