The Bloc Quebecois has stood behind the Harper government in its attempts to muzzle municipal officials who wanted to come before a Parliamentary committee to discuss problems with the federal Infrastructure Stimulus program, Liberal Infrastructure Critic Gerard Kennedy charged today.
“The Harper government knows full well they have managed this program badly, so it’s easy to see why they are intent on keeping a lid on individual municipalities’ complaints,” said Mr. Kennedy. “Quebecers should be asking Gilles Duceppe why he supports this muzzling.
“The municipalities are on the ground implementing these programs, and know far better than the Harper government what the problems are – and how to fix them so that Canadians can get some decent value from these mismanaged infrastructure stimulus funds.”
The Harper government, with Bloc support, has denied access to community officials who wanted to come before the only Parliamentary committee empowered to oversee the enormous $6-billion Infrastructure department. Only three provincial associations have been allowed to come forward.
Municipalities are on the hook for any costs for projects not fully completed by March 31, 2011, and billed by April 15th, despite the fact that the federal government notified municipalities, on average, six months late about approval for their projects.
Hearings had been scheduled for today and June 15th to study the impact that the rigid, arbitrary March 31st deadline has had on the municipal partners carrying them out, including the significantly increased costs, project reductions and even project cancellations.
The Harper-Bloc coalition on the committee also cancelled the study of the problem that was originally agreed to by members.
Mr. Kennedy noted that communities such as Saint John, New Brunswick, Owen Sound and Ajax in Ontario, Cote Saint-Luc, Quebec, Shelburne, Nova Scotia, and Canmore, Alberta, all have projects worth $63 million, and all deserve to be heard.
“This could be another billion-dollar boondoggle, where taxpayer money is being wasted, only this time, it is the local property taxpayers who will be stuck paying for it,” Mr. Kennedy said. “The bottom line is that the government has mismanaged this program, and getting poor value for Canadians as a result.
“Both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Infrastructure Minister John Baird have so far indicated they are content to dump their problems onto the backs of municipalities and their local taxpayers, and that they will not budge on completion dates.”
Mr. Kennedy will be releasing a preliminary study that he and his office have been conducting on the problem early next week.
