Skip to content

EDITORIAL: Don't make assumptions about provincial infrastructure fund

It might seem like a massive pot of provincial dollars, but expectations for what this city could receive from the Moving Ontario Forward program still need to be dampened.

It might seem like a massive pot of provincial dollars, but expectations for what this city could receive from the Moving Ontario Forward program still need to be dampened.

The provincial program has set aside $31 billion for infrastructure funding across Ontario and $15 billion over 10 years of that earmarked for cities outside of Toronto and Hamilton.

That’s a big number. Just over a week ago at a council meeting mathematics were at work to determine just how much Thunder Bay could expect from that pot. The rough number crunching led to discussions of $20- to $25- million annually. Excitement ensued.

That excitement forced Minister of Northern Development and Mines Michael Gravelle to reign in enthusiasm and explain that the fund would not be distributed based on the per capita model discussed in council chambers.

As big a number as $15 billion is, the dollars need to be spread over a large area – from Cornwall to Kenora - with numerous infrastructure deficits to address.

Just in the Northwest alone $1 billion is needed for the Ring of Fire, more highway twinning remains unfunded, Oliver Paipoonge faces the expensive task of being connected to natural gas and Kenora needs bridge repair.

Add those needs to the rough math that gave us $25 million for the city and suddenly things aren’t adding up.

There’s good reason to have a more relaxed approach to provincial programs like Moving Ontario.

Making bold assumptions about what we believe we could get from these funds puts our provincial counterparts in the awkward position of bringing us back to reality.

What our provincial representatives likely thought would be a good news story for the region is soured as they’re forced to take away an imagined $25 million that was never there.





push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks