FCM “Upbeat” says Mayor Hall
Prince George, B.C.- Back from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities AGM in Winnipeg, Prince George Mayor Lyn Hall says the mood at the conference was different “That was my fourth one, and I would say of all of them, this one was the most upbeat” says Mayor Hall. He says the mood is largely attributable to the commitment from the Federal Government for infrastructure funding for municipalities.
Infrastructure funding was a common theme at the conference in Winnipeg says Mayor Hall who adds communities still have a number of questions “What do the infrastructure dollars look like, when will they be handed out, when will projects be approved, how does that approval process look like, when will it happen?”
Hall says some of the workshops were focused on the infrastructure theme and were aimed at rural communities “One of the workshops was about asset management which was really infrastructure designed to look at various ways to manage the assets you have, to make sure you’re managing them properly and that you’re making long range plans to revitalize those projects. Interestingly enough, that’s some of the things we’re doing with our parks strategy and our facility review we’re doing, to set long term plans in place to refurbish and keep them up to par.”
The Infrastructure funding is broken down into three categories, basic, green and social and Prince George has a wish list for each one of those categories. “You take a look at some of the river reclamation work we have to do, we’ve received some funding for that and we’ll be looking for more. You take a look at the below and above ground infrastructure. We will have a better idea once our facility review is complete” That review is expected to be complete this fall.
The conference also saw Councillor Garth Frizzell re-elected as a director to the FCM, which means Prince George will have a presence on the two major municipal organizations. “Councillor Murry Krause is going to be the UBCM President for 2016-17, then we have Councillor Frizzell on the BC Caucus of the FCM” says Mayor Hall “So those are two important positions for us and bode well for the City, it means we have a voice at the table.” Both organizations have clout with senior levels of government.
Comments
“He (Lyn Hall) says the upbeat mood is largely attributable to the commitment from the Federal Government for infrastructure funding for municipalities.”
Yes there is that reason, however I would propose the overall reason for the upbeat mood was the change in government from a “no hope” “don’t care” Harper Conservative government to a more progressive and caring Liberal government… but thats just my honest opinion :-)
With every change of government there is optimism.
But in reality all that happens is that funding gets delayed.
While the Feds and the Province’s renegotiate the funding formulas.
Along with renaming or rebranding certain government programs.
If some of Canada’s Big City mayors ,like Montreal & Vancouver.
Want funding, maybe they should support some of the pipelines.
Considering that Central Canada imports it oil and natural gas.
At an approx. cost to the Canadian economy of $17 Billion dollars.
The governments could get a lot a revenue off that .
To pay for infrastructure programs.
Wow, the Oil and Gas Industry lobbyists are out of the starting gate fast on this one… don’t know why “oil” becomes the immediate topic and centre of discussion about a story on FCM and city / municipal infrastructure, but I suppose anyone can twist any topic into a pro-oil rant these days.
Fly at it then… but I’m going to pass on taking this bad tasting bait.
and let’s not forget that a left-wingnut was out of the starting gate FIRST on this one, haha!
I’m not sure where all of the infrastructure money will come from, after the Liberals borrow us into massive debt while spending all of the money in other countries, other than Canada, but that’s just my honest opinion! ;-)
I suspect it is your opinion. How can you prove it is an honest opinion as opposed to a fake opinion?
Would just writing that it is you opinion not be enough.
Wait, maybe both are actually redundant.
Plane and simple, your statement is assumed to be your opinion. Perhaps you sometimes post other people’s opinions, in which case you should not follow it up with it being your opinion, honest or otherwise..
:-)
gopg2015, JGalt set the tone by offering his own honest opinion! I didn’t want to offer my opinion without clarifying that it was my honest opinion for fear that someone might think it my dishonest opinion, haha! ;-)
“don’t know why “oil” becomes the immediate topic and centre of discussion about a story on FCM and city / municipal infrastructure”
Maybe because the money for infrastructure actually has to come from somewhere other than pixie dust as the lefties seem to believe?
Typical pro-oil Conservative, ignoring the fact “production of crude oil represents just 3% of Canada’s GDP”. On a pro-forma and rated basis, this means crude oil contributes only 3% of the money going into Canada’s infrastructure… the equivalent effect a smelly fart has in a wind storm.
Read this news article from a reputable source, Ontario and Quebec, account for more than half of Canada’s GDP, and Canada is now shifting back to manufacturing products and providing secondary services in those provinces, as it should.
www .economist.com/news/americas/21641288-growth-shifting-oil-producing-west-back-traditional-economic-heartland
Time for everyone to face up to the fact; there is no long term future in fossil fuels!
Perhaps one day the oil shills will be able to do the math . The stark truth is that the fossils take way more out of every economy that they controll than they have ever put back . The royalties and taxes ,if any , are raked back through subsidies to the tune of 6 trillion dollars every year . They are vampires. We are being had and the vast majority don’t even know it . They throw us a little of their ( our) pocket change when we get testy and some think them heroes . Actually that 3 percent of GDP number contains the fossil methane ( Natgas) as well .
Of course the Mayor is happy! Will all this talk of mystery money coming from the feds we will yet again have to put up with a fiscally irresponsible municipal bureaucracy. This Mayor won’t be the one at the helm when the proverbial fan gets hit when we all wake up and realize that our publicly funded workforce is not sustainable.
This mayor will be a 4 term mayor. That means 16 years.
That might be just about enough time to get the PAC pushed through and built!
I suspect he’ll make the jump to Provincial or even Federal politics long before then. The political winds just have to be blowing properly.
Our society would not be sustainable without our publicly funded work force ! This is a fact for every civil society on the globe . To say otherwise would be idiotic . Or Somalian thinking .
Our society is struggling to pay for our oversized, bloated, inefficient and overpaid publicly funded work force. To say otherwise would be idiot!
Go ahead Ataloss, say it!
Oh come on now Ataloss, you can do better than that! You better go have another coffee, haha!
I cant stop laughing at “sustainable” in the same sentence as “publicly funded work force” – Thanks for the humour!
Our federal police force the RCMP is a publicly funded work force . Anyone want to live without them ? I thank them for doing a job that I neither could do or would want to do . Thank you publicly funded work force . I love the civil society you have and will provide till I die . I think you need another public holiday in June and a raise !
I believe that some of the left wing posters on this site have praised the investment team managing the Canada Pension Plan.
This morning, from the Canadian Press:
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has committed US$450 million to LongPoint Minerals, a Denver-based company that focuses on investments in the U.S. oil and gas sector.
The Toronto-based pension fund manager says it will end up with a significant majority stake in LongPoint within two to three years.
LongPoint’s strategy is to acquire mineral and royalty interests in three key oil and gas production areas in the U.S.
CPPIB manages a fund worth C$278.9 billion as of March 31 on behalf of the Canada Pension Plan.
It’s awaiting the official completion of an earlier oil and gas deal with Calgary-based Encana (TSX:ECA), one of Canada’s largest oil and gas companies.
In my honest opinion, it looks like the oil and gas industry will still be with us for awhile, providing energy, providing jobs and providing taxes!
I didn’t read anyone praising cppib.com Canadian pension investment arm . I did mention how bazaar the investment were during the Harper government . The last three years were the strangest . Last year buying Alibaba was really weird . And shopping malls in Spain just in time to be there when nobody has any money . Brilliant !!! That’s sarcasm BTW .
Ataloss, according to Linda sims, a Canada Pension spokeswoman, “the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has invested $160 million US in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
The company that manages the pool of Canada pension money not needed for benefits made two direct investments in Alibaba in 2011 and 2012 for a total of $136 million The pension plan has another $24 million indirect investment through a private-equity fund managed by Silver Lake Management LLC”!
From the same CBC article, “When Alibaba goes public, that stake may be worth considerably more than it was when the CPPIB bought it.”
Hmmm, worth considerably more than it was when the CCPIB bought it!
Gee, Ataloss, I wonder if that had anything to do with why the CPPIB bought Alibaba?
ht tp://www.cbc.ca/news/business/alibaba-prices-stock-at-68-us-in-22b-ipo-1.2770686
So Hall and the other attendees at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities AGM in Winnipeg are optimistic about Justin’s “infrastructure spending” election promise?
Really?
News Flash!! This just in!
The Liberals have just now broken yet another election campaign! The Liberals campaigned on cutting the small business tax rate to 9%, but they have just voted to keep it at 10.5%!
Only 8 months into their mandate and it’s been one broken election promise after another!
If I was Hall and Co., I wouldn’t be holding my breath for, or banking on Justin’s “infrastructure spending”!
Cue the “thumbs down” from all of the lefties here! After all, you guys just can’t handle the truth!
Wow, I wonder where all the lefties went? Not a single comment on my last two posts. Perhaps you lefties are having a tough time dealing with the “facts and truths” in my previous two comments?
Ataloss obviously can’t handle the fact that the CPPIB made a pretty decent investment while the Conservatives were in power and all the rest are in shock that their saviour Justin has broken yet ANOTHER election promise!
Say it isn’t so!
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