To the Editor:
Except for the Harper government, there seems to be complete consensus about the leading importance of municipal infrastructure in building a more prosperous Canadian economy.
Globally, the G-20, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development are all promoting it. So are the provincial Premiers, the Bank of Canada, the Parliamentary Budget Officer and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, along with major “think-tanks” like the C.D. Howe Institute, the Conference Board and the Canada-West Foundation.
Add to that the voices of industry – the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Council of Chief Executives, the Canadian Labour Congress, the Construction Association, three different groups of Professional Engineers, the Urban Transit Association and the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
Internally, even the federal Finance Department agrees. Their analysis shows that expanding infrastructure is the most cost-effective way for the Government of Canada to boost jobs and growth – far more effective than tax cuts, for example. Statistics Canada has pointed out that our greatest gains in productivity have occurred when we were making our biggest investments infrastructure.
And Former Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge says that such investments now are especially advantageous because they transform the value of historically low interest rates into long-term capital assets to underpin growth for generations to come.
Municipalities are responsible for more than 60% of the nation’s public infrastructure, but with less than 10% of the nation’s tax-base, local governments obviously need more federal support.
Many of the physical facilities that our communities depend on today were built decades ago. They’re worn down, while our population and economy have outgrown them. So we’re falling behind in public transit and transportation, adequate and appropriate housing, water and sewer services, flood protection, environmental integrity, recreation, culture and other amenities.
All of this makes it hard to understand why the Harper government has chosen to cut its major program for supporting municipal infrastructure projects this year by 87%. It’s been chopped down to just $210-million for the whole country (compared to $1.7-billion last year). Mr. Harper says he may put some more federal money into this program in future years, but at best, it won’t get back to last year’s levels until after 2019.
So why this 5-year funding gap? The answer is actually pretty simple. The timing is all contrived to help Mr. Harper claim a budget surplus in 2015 so he can implement his “Income Splitting” scheme. That expensive Conservative campaign promise from four years ago is trumping things like municipal infrastructure (and decent levels of support for veterans too).
The late Jim Flaherty warned about this problem. He said this government could actually take some additional time to balance its books. There’s nothing magical about 2015. But Mr. Harper contradicted him. Mr. Flaherty also said Income Splitting in inherently unfair because 86% of Canadian households cannot qualify and thus get nothing from the $2-billion it costs to implement.
Canadians would be better off by refocusing available resources on a more substantive and immediate expansion of community infrastructure – creating good jobs today, and laying the foundations of a bigger and better economy tomorrow.
Ralph Goodale
Member of Parliament Wascana
