Election 2015 - Infrastructure
- Details
- Published on Thursday, September 3, 2015
Banner Staff
The Neepawa Banner
Until the federal election on October 19th, the Neepawa Banner will be talking to the candidates about the issues that matter to local voters. This week we begin with the candidate profiles. Check back as we ask the candidates for their views on a new topic each week.
Ageing infrastructure is a concern for many Canadians. Does your party have any plans to address this issue - either by directly funding projects or by partnering with other levels of government.
Name: Kate Storey
Party: Green Party of Canada
Home: Grandview
There is a $123 billion infrastructure deficit and that’s happened because municipalities just can’t raise the money. They don’t have, they haven’t been given the constitutional powers to raise enough money to pay for all that. So, help has to come from the federal government. We need national plans to rebuild that. What the Green Party is proposing is one per cent of the GST, that’s $6.5 billion annually, be dedicated to our municipal infrastructure. That [amount] is more than any of the other parties and we’re able to do that because we’re finding savings elsewhere. We are also recognizing that when you invest in infrastructure you’re expanding your tax base. Infrastructure means building roads and building bridges and building sewage plants. That’s a lot of building and that’s a lot of jobs and new taxpayers. You are expanding your economy when you look after your infrastructure. What the Green Party would do that immediately. The other parties are advertising their investment saying, “Okay, we’ll do so many billion dollars, but we’ll do it over 10 years or we’ll do it over 20 years.” [The Green Party] is saying “No, let’s do it now. Let’s take that one per cent GST and let’s say this is the one per cent that municipalities get and let’s get to work.”
Let’s invest money in the things that we know we’re going to need down the line. We’re looking at immediately expanding programs in key area that are close to the Green heart: community housing, public transit, water and waste treatment and brownfield remediation. Now brownfield remediation, that refers to using the nutrients that are in waste and putting it back on the field [as fertilizer]. Let’s get some value out of it.
We want to invest in sports and recreational and culture facilities. Promote cycling and walking. Promotion has a side benefit: It increases health and in turn reduces health care costs. When people are walking and cycling and being active, we just don’t have as high a health care bill, so that’s the way the Green Party looks at it. We want to see everything as connected.
Name: Inky Mark
Party: Independent
Home: Dauphin
Infrastructure is very important to community and country. As a former mayor, I know that most communities cannot afford to improve the infrastructure in their communities. The federal government must play a large role in the improvement of water, sewage, garbage disposal, recycling, bridges and roads. Infrastructure spending is another means to prop up the economy. The problem with the feds is that they use infrastructure spending as a plum during an election. I found out many years ago that federal governments are horrible at planning; infrastructure studies end up collecting dust. In 1997, I sat on the Transportation committee. I found out that study after study on highway improvement went nowhere. They all became dust collectors.
Name: Ray Piché
Party: Liberal Party of Canada
Home: Onanole
As a member of Team Trudeau, I am proud to be part of the largest new infrastructure investment in Canadian history. Our investment will ensure that Canadians travel to work, or enjoy family vacations, on safe roads and bridges throughout Canada, while creating employment at the same time.
Our plan will also build a strong partnership with our dedicated provincial, territories and municipal elected officials, to ensure we work as a team for all hardworking Canadians.
The Liberal plan will nearly double federal infrastructure investment to $125 billion, from the current $65 billion, over the next decade, reaching an additional $9.5 billion by year 10. It will make an immediate down payment to kick-start job creation and economic growth by doubling the current federal infrastructure investment in each of the next two fiscal years.
We will increase the transparency of the New Building Canada Fund by providing clearer project criteria and a faster approval processes that will now prioritize investments in roads, bridges, transportation, ports and border gateways and help fund public infrastructure projects with the creation of a new Canada Infrastructure Bank.
We will also provide new, dedicated funding to provinces, territories, and municipalities for:
1: Public transit infrastructure - We will make federal funding flexible to the requirements of municipalities, so as to maximize the number of public transit projects that are built in Canada.
2: Social infrastructure – including affordable housing and seniors facilities, early learning and child care and cultural and recreational infrastructure
3: Green infrastructure – including local and waste water facilities, climate resilient infrastructure and clean energy
Name: Laverne Lewycky
Party: NDP
Home: Dauphin
I’ve been visiting the 36 and a half municipalities in our region, sitting in at a council meeting and getting a snapshot of their concerns. It doesn’t matter which municipality, they are crying badly for infrastructure help. We’ve lost a decade with the current federal government, they’ve been cutting back. Even though they’ve been making some announcements, that hasn’t really materialized. For example, the New Building Canada Plan, it’s been on the books and ready to go for two years and only now are some of [the projects] starting to get some of those benefits. There is a definite concern, in terms of the bridges and the roads. Municipalities also have water treatment problems, in regards to their water supply and waste water. It doesn’t matter whether they’re at the 53rd parallel or down to the 50th, or almost 49th, parallel in our case.
In my case, I like to think of infrastructure as being a little bit more that just roads and bridges and water treatment plants. I like to consider education and health care as being infrastructure for what I call a “rural stay option”. If people want to live in the country, they should have that particular option and the only way that would happen is if for example young people could stay in the Dauphin area. If we had federal-provincial agreements where there was that opportunity for degree completion and trade studies more geared to the locale, many of them would be able to stay here. The same thing for child care. Child care is important, even in a rural area. That’s part of the infrastructure for that kind of a progress to happen.
In terms of the what is the party is proposing, I’m happy and that’s one of the reasons I think [NDP leader Tom] Mulcair is a good leader, he understands that and infrastructure is very high on his priorities. When I go to these municipalities, I can say, “We can address these concern because the next prime minister of Canada is aware of it and he is supportive of that.” I believe in working in partnerships, like with the province for example.
If elected, I would have a staff member who would have a dedicated portfolio of federal-provinical-municipal agreements and work with the municipalities proactively. I would talk to councils and make copies of their resolutions to give to all of caucus. If caucus has say, 30 resolutions about infrastructure, they would realize that that’s fairly important. You would see that pile and see what I’m talking about, that would make a different.
When I was a Member of Parliament, we had 66 post offices, not one of them was cut because I spoke up for them. Now we’ve had such a reduction of that type of service. Rail lines have been abandoned and that wasn’t the case [when I was MP]. Now lines are gone and the roads are suffering for it. In terms of infrastructure, that’s kind of the vision I’ve got with regards to working with the municipalities. That means working with the different towns and committees of smaller places.
Name: Robert Sopuck
Party: Conservative Party of Canada
Home: Sandy Lake
Our government has embarked upon the largest infrastructure program in Canadian history, some $80 billion over 10 years. In our particular constituency, [the Conservative government] has been able to deliver almost $80 million over my time as a Member of Parliament, largely for infrastructure programming. For Neepawa, there’s been two grants [out of the New Building Canada Plan] available for the new trunk sewer line, in partnership with the provincial and municipal governments. We do infrastructure at the federal level, but we are very much focused on infrastructure at the local level as well.
The government also announced the Canada 150 program, $150 million over two years, in this year’s budget.
From February 2005 to December 2014, Manitoba in particular has been the recipient of $1.2 billion in infrastructure programming. That’s not including the Building Canada Plan, which invested $53 billion across Canada. This is a very substantial investment in infrastructure. I want to make the point that in the Conservative caucus, we have 65 per cent of the rural seats in Canada. As a rural Member of Parliament, I can tell you that our caucus and our government and Prime Minister Harper is very focused on rural infrastructure and we look at everything through a rural lens. The other infrastructure programming constituents may find interesting is that in July, we announced $9 million to partner with an internet service provider to provide high speed internet right across our constituency. I very much view broad band internet as part of our infrastructure program. I think in the modern era, we have to add internet to [the traditional definition of infrastructure]. It’s absolutely critical.
Week one- Candidate Bios: http://www.mywestman.ca/administrator/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&layout=edit&id=4165
