Liberal Infrastructure Critic Gerard Kennedy said he was pleased today to see the Conservatives carry forward with the four-year-old Liberal plan to double the amount municipalities receive through the federal gas tax transfer, but questioned why the new infrastructure money announced by the Conservatives in Budget 2009 will not flow in this way as well.
“If Transport Minister John Baird believes our strategy is worth claiming as his own, it begs the question as to why it’s not good enough to use to flow the new funds so that it gets into the hands of municipalities quicker,” said Mr. Kennedy.
“One billion new dollars should have started flowing from the budget by now, and it would have if the Harper government had followed Parliament’s direction and implemented the Liberal motion adopted on March 3.” That motion would have seen at least half of the government’s new infrastructure funds go out the door by using the federal gas tax method created by the Liberals in 2005.
“Instead, it will be June at the earliest before cities and communities will see any money. And in the meantime, we have a minister covering up and buying time by re-announcing previous commitments,” he said.
Mr. Kennedy was referring to two announcements made by Mr. Baird this morning. At the first on Parliament Hill, he re-announced doubling federal gas tax funding for municipalities from $1 billion to $2 billion per year, as originally announced by the previous Liberal government when the gas tax method was introduced.
He then re-announced funds from the Building Canada Fund first announced by the Prime Minister in February at the same location – a GO Transit maintenance garage in Toronto.
“The sad reality is Mr. Baird’s approach is making the recession worse,” pointed out Mr. Kennedy. “There are 50,000 unemployed construction workers who could have been working by now, helping to stimulate their local economies.
