John Rafferty is hoping a small motion could mean big changes to address the country’s infrastructure deficit in rural areas.
Rafferty (NDP, Thunder Bay-Rainy River) tabled motion 433 last Thursday. It asks that the government set up an infrastructure fund for municipalities with 10,000 people or less to fix roads, bridges and other infrastructure across rural Canada. Municipalities are responsible for about 60 per cent of funding for infrastructure. With a small tax base, it’s hard for smaller places to get things done Rafferty said.
“In the last 50 years we’ve seen a huge increase in what municipalities have to take care of and there hasn’t been the same kind of increase in tax bases,” he said. “It certainly is needed not just for renewal of infrastructure but also for new infrastructure.”
Instead of fixing the fund at a certain level, Rafferty would like to see it tied to the economic performance of the country. Based on GDP, a good year would see more money put into the fund. Negative growth would mean the fund wouldn’t’ be there that year.
“I think it’s a fair way to do it,” he said.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities estimates the country’s infrastructure deficit is around $170 billion.
“That’s a lot of infrastructure. I think it might even be higher,” Rafferty said.
