General FAQs
What is the Building Canada Fund-Communities Component?
Who is administering the Communities Component?
Do the governments of Canada and Ontario offer any other infrastructure programs for municipalities?
Q. What is the Building Canada Fund-Communities Component?
A. On July 24, 2008, Canada and Ontario signed an Infrastructure Framework Agreement worth more than $6.2 billion in joint federal and provincial funding under the Building Canada Fund. The Communities Component Agreement, which is part of the Building Canada Fund, was signed on August 26, 2008. Under this agreement, Canada and Ontario each committed an initial $362 million towards smaller projects in communities with populations less than 100,000.
The governments of Canada and Ontario have also made additional investments under the Communities Component, through the federal and provincial budgets, to enable municipalities to take advantage of infrastructure investments that will stimulate the economy, create local jobs and improve the quality of life of Ontario residents.
Q. Who is administering the Communities Component?
A. The governments of Ontario and Canada have established a Joint Secretariat to administer the Communities Component.
The Joint Secretariat is composed of employees of Industry Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. As needed, federal departments, provincial ministries and agencies provide technical expertise to the Joint Secretariat.
A.Yes. As part of their long-term strategy for infrastructure development and economic growth, both governments offer several programs to help address municipal infrastructure needs.
The Government of Canada’s Economic Action Plan is accelerating and expanding the existing federal investment of $33 billion in infrastructure with almost $12 billion in new infrastructure stimulus funding over two years.
This includes a new $4 billion Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, a $1 billion Green Infrastructure Fund and a commitment to increase and accelerate funding for the Building Canada Plan, including an additional $500 million for the Communities Component over the next two years.
The Government of Canada is also working on a number of proactive and responsible measures to ensure acceleration of infrastructure projects. These initiatives, when combined with the work we do with provinces and territories, will accelerate infrastructure projects by eliminating duplication and unnecessary steps for assessing infrastructure projects.
The Ontario government is allocating $32.5 billion for infrastructure projects over the next two years, supporting an estimated 146,000 jobs in 2009-10 and 168,000 jobs in 2010-11. These investments build on the government’s $30 billion ReNew Ontario infrastructure investment plans, which will be completed in 2008-09, a full year ahead of schedule.