Investing in Ontario’s Infrastructure
August 11, 2021

Our Government committed to addressing the infrastructure needs and priorities of communities all across our country since first coming to office in 2006. It has done this through the unprecedented $33-billion Building Canada infrastructure plan. Last week, Ontario signed on to this Plan that will help address infrastructure needs and priorities in our province until 2014.

The Building Canada plan is an unprecedented $33-billion, 7-year infrastructure plan introduced by the Government of Canada to provide long-term, stable, and predictable funding to help meet infrastructure needs across Canada. Our Government recognized that substantial infrastructure funding was long overdue and without this investment, productivity, trade, and economic growth would falter. In response to this, it took action by developing the Building Canada Plan.

On July 24, 2008, the Honourable Lawrence Cannon (Minister of Transport, Infrastructure, and Communities), the Honourable Jim Flaherty (Minister of Finance), along with Ontario Minister of Energy and Infrastructure and Ontario Minister of Finance announced the signing of an infrastructure Framework Agreement worth more than $6.2 billion under Building Canada for Ontario. This means that our Government can continue to provide real results to the people, cities, and communities of Ontario such as clean drinking water, safer highways, expanded public transit, and improved broadband coverage.

Under the Agreement, approximately $3.09 billion from the Building Canada Fund will go towards infrastructure initiatives in our province through two components: more than $2.73 billion in funding will support larger-scale projects; while under the Communities Component, $362 million in funding will be available for partnership investments in communities with populations less than 100,000. The province will match Federal funding, meaning that more than $6 billion will be available for Ontario communities.

Furthermore, under the Plan, the Government of Canada will provide $25 million in base funding annually, for a total of $175 million through 2014 for core infrastructure priorities in the province. An additional $2.98 billion will flow to Ontario municipalities through the extension of the Federal Gas Tax Fund agreement from 2010 to 2014.

Aside from the $6.2 billion of guaranteed funding under Building Canada, Ontario and its municipalities will also have potential access to the Gateways and Border Crossing Fund, as well as the Public-Private Partnership Fund. Finally, with the full GST rebate and the Gas Tax Fund, over 50 per cent of the Building Canada Plan flows directly to municipalities to further strengthen local infrastructure priorities.

By signing this agreement, our province can move forward to making significant infrastructure improvements that will help support economic growth, a cleaner environment, and the overall prosperity of all Ontarians. The Building Canada Plan is another way our Government continues to get things done for the people, cities, and communities of Ontario and Canada.