The provincial government announced June 10 that it is earmarking $230 million for its share of projects funded by the federal government’s Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP), but northern and rural communities are worried that the province isn’t moving fast enough on applications they’ve already submitted.
Premier Brian Pallister said in a news release Wednesday that close to half of the $500 million Manitoba Restart Program would go towards ICIP-funded projects, with another $150 million for highway resurfacing, $65 million for projects to improve highway safety, $50 million for water and sewer projects and $5 million for municipal law enforcement priorities like local jails to alleviate pressure on the Winnipeg Remand Centre.
But the Winnipeg Free Press reported that Snow Lake Mayor Peter Roberts wrote to provincial ministers to complain about delays in finalizing a sewage plant application. The Free Press also reported that Industry Canada said it hadn’t received any rural or northern stream funding applications from Manitoba, nor any in the public transit funding stream.
Roberts wrote that he expected the province would submit applications by January.
“Every reasonable attempt to get this issue addressed has led us to one dead end after another,” said the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Free Press.
Flin Flon NDP MLA Tom Lindsey said in a June 8 press release that he fears the provincial government not moving fast enough could lead to applications like the one from Snow Lake not being approved.
“it is critical that the Pallister government stop dragging their heels so that local projects, like the one in Snow Lake can be completed,” said Lindsey. “These projects do more than strengthen municipal infrastructure, they create good jobs for northern families and drive local economies. The Pallister government has chronically underspent on infrastructure in this province for years, and now they are refusing to help northern municipalities get the federal funding they need. We need to invest in the North now and northerners shouldn't have to wait.”
Ralph Groening, president of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM), told the Free Press that the organization, which represents all municipalities in the province, helped the Manitoba government analyze 281 funding proposals in February and that he was perplexed about why they hadn’t yet been forwarded to the federal government months later.
Central Services Minister Reg Helwer told the Free Press in a written statement that his plan was to submit the applications in late spring following talks with First Nations and municipalities.
“We are hoping to find flexible solutions to flow federal dollars more quickly in to the province,” said a statement attributed to Helwer.
