Council Presses for New Long Term Infrastructure Fund from Feds
Monday, July 16, 2012 @ 6:19 PM
Prince George, B.C. – Council for the City of Prince George has passed a resolution it hopes will help turn up the heat on the Federal Government to come up with a new program that will pick up where the Infrastructure Canada – Building Canada leaves off.
That Federal program , as well as other federal provincial transfer agreements such as the federal gas tax program will expire in March of 2014. The Federal Government has been holding round table discussions across the Country to try and gather input on what a new program might look like.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities has contacted its members encouraging them to pass a resolution in support of a new long term federal plan that would deal with municipal infrastructure.
Here is the full text of the resolution approved by Prince George Council:
WHEREAS, The Building Canada Plan and a number of important federal-provincial transfer agreements vital to Canada’s cities and communities, will expire in March 2014;
WHEREAS, federal investments over the last few years have helped to slow the decline of our cities and communities, and the Government of Canada has committed to develop a new long-term plan for municipal infrastructure funding in consultation with municipal and provincial/territorial governments;
WHEREAS, a seamless transition from the Building Canada Plan to a new long term plan is necessary to ensure that municipalities can continue planning their capital spending effectively;
WHEREAS, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) has launched a campaign to ensure the new plan reflects municipal priorities across the country and asks its member municipalities to pass a Council resolution supporting the campaign;
AND WHEREAS, our community has continuing infrastructure needs, such as severe potholes and extensive road rehabilitation needs, as well as storm water and sewer maintenance, that can only be met through the kind of long-term planning and investment made possible by a national plan;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Council endorses the FCM campaign and urges the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities to work with FCM to ensure the new long-term infrastructure plan meets the core infrastructure needs of cities and communities;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Council urges the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities to ensure that the new long-term plan is fully in place when existing programs expire in 2014; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution shall be sent to the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, to the provincial Minister of Communities, Sport and Cultural Development, to Bob Zimmer, Member of Parliament for Prince George-Peace River, to Dick Harris, Member of Parliament for Cariboo-Prince George, to Ministers Bell and Bond, to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and to the Union of BC Municipalities.
Comments
Good luck with that one. The trend is for for the feds and the province to download on the city, not give more money.
We keep voting for them. Wouldn’t that give them the impression that we are happy with the job they are doing or not doing?
Vintage PG City Hall. Spend all your money on assinine projects until you are broke, then run to the Federal Government with hat in hand and wail like David Copperfield. MORE, MORE, MORE.
I hope the Feds tell them to take a hike and clean up their act.
The payroll at City Hall is enough to make you sick.
The huge monolith of a Police Station, is a declaration to the rest of the Country that Prince George has absolutely no concern about tax dollars, or spending money.
The Community Enegy System was a failure before it ever shipped a gallon of water.
When will we get an update on this project using the new figures now that Lakeland is shut down, and the price of natural gas has gone through the floor. How much non tax revenue will this project earn under the new conditions, or are we facing 20 years of lost revenue.??
Palopu…before you spout off about the ‘monolith’ police station, I strongly suggest you slither on down to the current station and request a tour of the place. Maybe then you can make an informed comment or better yet post a detailed building plan for what you would expect from a police station and all that it entails and compare the two…until then quit bitching!!!!!
The present police station is like all the other projects managed by City Hall, pathetic, They dont seem to know the meaning of the word, “maintenance”. In stead they discard the old and build the new.
Just saw on TV last night were the annual tax increase for the City of Langley is less then 2%.
Cheers
That’s fantastic news Retired 02. They didn’t happen to say how they achieve that in an inflationary economy did they?
Costs continually rise, and then so too must your taxes to pay for it all. It’s a pretty simple formula, but is it sustainable you might wonder? No, it isn’t, but it was never designed to be sustainable. We’ve been skirting this reality for a long time, but now the bill has come due and we’re all going to pay and pay until there is nothing left essentially.
You can have your choice, you can pay in higher user fees, or in general taxation. It’s up to you, but those are the choices. Or you can exist stage left and see your way out of the game, but for the love of pete, quit whining about it. It won’t change anything.
I beleive that if we had put in five million in maintenance on the old police station it would have been just fine.
Problem is they did not do any maintenance on this building for years. Why?? Because they had plans to build a new one.
This is the third new police station in Prince George since 1957. 1. Seventh Avenue. 2. Brunswick Street. 3. 4th and Victoria.
How many Citys have built three new Stations in 50 years??? Probably only Prince George??
I’ll quit bitching when the City stops wasting money, which means I will never quit.
If you want to give the City Carte Blanche on your money, thats your business, however I think that they need to be more fiscally responsible.
In any event the new station could have been built for say $25 Million served the purpose and saved us some money, but no, we need to build this bloody monstrosity.
Well Pal you got that right. Its just mismanagement. And we have to keep trying to change it. Some of us just dont lay down and be walked over thats for loosers.
Cheers
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