Canada's New Budget to Boost Infrastructure?

27 January 2009 - 1:00pm

With the fate of Canada's conservative government at stake, details are leaking regarding the proposed federal budget, including billions of dollars in new infrastructure spending.

"The [Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper] is creating a new $4-billion Infrastructure Stimulus Fund in tomorrow's budget to help provinces, territories and municipalities get more job-rich public works projects started, Transport Minister John Baird announced today.

[T]he new $4-billion infrastructure fund's money would be for projects that take place over the next two years. The $7-billion in new infrastructure funding also includes a $2-billion fund to support repairs and maintenance and accelerated construction at colleges and universities across Canada, and a $1-billion Green Infrastructure Fund.

The provinces have put forward hundreds of ideas for how to spend the multibillions the government plans to make available for roads, bridges, water-treatment plants, broadband initiatives and the like."

Full Story: Tories to pump $7-billion into public works

Source: The Globe and Mail, January 26, 2009