Federal minister says stimulus money on its way
By Kevin Werner, News Staff
News
http://www.hamiltonmountainnews.com/news/article/165846
Federal Transport Minister John Baird assured Hamilton officials last week the city will quickly see the benefits from the Conservatives $40 billion economic stimulus package. But Mayor Fred Eisenberger remains concerned about how the federal funds will flow to the city.
Mr. Baird, who was touring southwestern Ontario municipalities, including Windsor Feb. 27, spent about an hour meeting with city officials explaining how the stimulus package will assist Hamilton and the surrounding communities.
“The meeting was positive,” said Mr. Eisenberger. “They expressed a strong commitment to provide the funding for shovel-ready projects.”
The city is looking at about $1.6 billion for an estimated 100 projects. Mr. Eisenberger said Hamilton will be accessing funding from both the recently approved stimulus package and the Build Canada fund.
Hamilton will apply to the Build Canada program to fund the city’s top infrastructure priority: the $700 million water and wastewater expansion. The stimulus funding will provide the necessary “quick jolts” of job creation for the city; said Mr. Eisenberger. He estimates the stimulus program could create for Hamilton between 2,000 to 3,000 jobs.
“It’s all about jobs,” he said. “With Hamilton at an 8 per cent unemployment rate, the (projected jobs) would be significant for the city.
“There will be a brilliant benefit for us from both funding sources,” he added.
The federal government stated one of the criteria for the stimulus package is to fund projects that will begin within two years. Mr. Baird suggested the federal government could accelerate the funding if the shovel-ready projects are ready by June, 2009.
Mr. Baird has been defending the federal government’s proposal to kick-start the stimulus package by releasing about $3 billion in emergency funding for the country. Liberals have argued without the proper checks and balances, the money could be wasted on useless projects.
Mr. Eisenberger expects the stimulus funding will be distributed to municipalities on a per capita basis.
“That may not be fair to older municipalities, but it is something we will live with,” he said.
There remains a few questions to be answered, including how funding will flow to municipalities and what will the criteria be for cities to access the money. The federal government will be sending the stimulus money to the provinces. It will be up to provincial officials to disperse the funding to cities. There also remains the sticking point of the federal government requiring municipalities to pay one-third of the cost of some projects. Mr. Eisenberger told Mr. Baird Hamilton can’t afford to pay for any of the infrastructure projects costs. The transport minister hinted there may be ways municipalities like Hamilton can avoid paying the extra cost for the projects.