To further enhance the security of the Region’s water supply a booster pumping station is being rehabilitated at the Washburn site in Burlington and is expected to be completed by the end of 2014.
“Canada’s Gas Tax Fund acknowledges that all orders of government must work together to address the pressing need for infrastructure investment in our municipalities,” said Russ Powers, President of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO). “Stable and predictable, the Gas Tax Fund is supporting long-term investment in local priority projects right across Ontario.”
Burlington struggles with an $18 million annual shortfall in getting its roads up to standard. Each budget cycle Councillor Dennison looks for ways to pull funds away other projects and into road repairs. In Burlington the practice has been to put 80% of the gas tax funding into transit; that percentage got reduced to 70% this year with more going to road repairs.
Guess who brought the money to this party? L to R: Mayor Gordon Krantz (Milton), Councillor Clark Somerville (Halton Hills), Regional Chair Gary Carr, The Honourable Lisa Raitt, Minister of Labour and MP Halton, Councillor Keith Bird (Oakville), Mayor Rick Bonnette (Halton Hills), Councillor Tony Lambert (Milton)
The federal government’s Canada’s Economic Action Plan 2013 is delivering a new Building Canada Plan to build roads, bridges, subways, commuter rail, and other public infrastructure in cooperation with provinces, territories, and municipalities.
At a recent council committee meeting Alan Magi, Executive Director Corporate Strategic Initiatives for the city advised council that it was a little to early to tell just how much Burlington could expect to see in terms of funding and where it might come from.
Municipalities across the country try and have a handful of projects they can move on quickly should federal money suddenly become available.. What municipalities would prefer is a program that sets out for a number of years what is going to be available so they can plan and maximize the benefits. For the federal government – it’s all about politics, for Burlington it’s usually ‘ how are we going to pay for this?’
We have not heard directly from Burlington MP Mike Wallace as to what he has managed to do for his constituents.
