Industry and municipalities working together

SAVANNAH, GEORGIA
Source

Canadian construction and municipalities will continue to work together to help inform the framework for the federal government's new infrastructure funding program.

“We have always had a great relationship with FCM (Federation of Canadian Municipalities),” said Michael Atkinson, Canadian Construction Association (CCA) president, in an interview at his association’s annual conference in Savannah, Georgia.

“Look at our ‘asks’ for this current federal budget, they are very similar. We both asked that the federal gas tax be indexed as an interim step, until the development of the new (infrastructure) plan. We both want to see a program, which is predictable and sustainable because in order for municipalities to make their capital plans they need to have some assurances that the funding is coming.”

On Nov. 30, 2011, Denis Lebel, Canada’s Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, announced the formal engagement process that will bring together the federal government, provinces, territories, the FCM and other infrastructure stakeholders to develop a new long-term plan beyond the expiry of the Building Canada Plan in March 2014.

The second part of that process included Infrastructure Canada establishing a steering committee to help guide the work of selecting subject matter experts and to discuss a workplan for this phase.

Atkinson has been asked by Infrastructure Canada’s assistant deputy minister to sit on this committee.

To help support this effort, the FCM established a Municipal Infrastructure Forum (MIF) consisting of a wide range of municipal infrastructure stakeholders to share ideas and possibly build consensus around the long-term infrastructure planning process.

The MIF itself is not a decision-making or advocacy body and is chaired by Berry Vrbanovic, FCM president and Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., councillor.

“The forum is an opportunity for FCM to bring together a number of partners engaged in infrastructure issues,” explained Vrbanovic.

“It is designed to help inform our input into the long-term infrastructure plan with the federal government,” he said.

“But, more importantly, it brings these groups together and looks for areas where we are aligned in our approach and perspectives on the infrastructure issue and to develop common advocacy areas with the federal government.”

Atkinson is among MIF’s three vice-chairs, which also include Pat Fiacco, mayor of Regina and Pauline Quinlan, mayor of Ville de Bromont, Que.

The forum held its first in-person meeting on Feb. 8, 2012 in Ottawa.

“There is recognition of the fact that the federal government will have some financial challenges over the years but what we want to do is see that infrastructure stays at the forefront of their priorities,” added Vrbanovic.

The MIF not only supports the federal government’s initiative for a new plan, it also is a follow-up on the commitment from the national infrastructure summit held last year in Regina.

Bill Ferreira, the CCA’s director of government relations and public affairs and Chris Lorenc of the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association, have been invited to participate on the Municipal Infrastructure Fund’s technical committee.

Vrbanovic noted that municipalities are looking for a clear signal from the federal government by 2013 about what kind of infrastructure funding can be expected and so they can plan for it in their 2014 budgets.

“For municipalities to take advantage of the 2014 construction year, they really need to know by late 2013,” he said.

Knowing by late 2013 what is in store for federal infrastructure funding is also helpful for CCA members, added Atkinson.

“Certainly, in our industry, it is great if some of our major clients at the public sector level give us an idea what their construction needs are going to be,” he said.

“It makes it much easier for us to train and prepare what kind of workers we are going to need.”