Ralph Goodale and Donna Harpauer. Photo by Manfred Joehnck.
Saskatchewan has now signed on to a federal-provincial agreement that will see 236 million dollars devoted to infrastructure projects over the next several years.
The projects involve improvements to public transit, as well as upgrades to municipal water systems. It’s not just the big cities that will benefit, smaller communities in the north will also see millions of dollars in new spending. New North C.E.O, Al Loke is encouraged.
“It’s a super benefit to the north,” he said. “The total benefit will be about six million dollars over the next couple of years, and we have already looked at projects that have been engineered and are ready to go.”
Ottawa will pay half, with the province and municipalities picking up the rest. Public Safety Minister, Ralph Goodale says the federal government is picking up a far greater share of the cost than it usually does on such programs.
“I think it’s a lot more attractive for municipalities in particular,” he said. “The federal government is picking up half of the cost with the province and municipalities picking up the rest, instead of the usual, a third, a third, a third.”
Saskatchewan’s Government Relations Minister, Donna Harpauer says spending money on rebuilding aging infrastructure is a priority for all levels of government.
“We hear everywhere we go that the infrastructure is aging especially for water and waste water,” she said. “Municipalities are struggling to try to finance it all on their own.”
The federal government has now signed bilateral agreements with every province and territory in Canada.