Building anger

Earlier this year, word came out that the Cons' much-ballyhooed infrastructure program was serving only to keep Regina's IPSCO Place renovations on hold, as the Harper government was evidently too busy trumpeting its own "accomplishments" to get around to actually funding projects once the photo ops were out of the way.

It took another month for the Cons to actually get around to approving that particular project. But today, the Star reports that every other municipality which has relied on federal funding is being punished even more for trusting the Cons:

In his 2007 budget, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty promised a windfall for Ontario towns and cities – $3.1 billion to help pay for highways, water projects and public transit.

Fifteen months later, municipalities have yet to see a dime.

The money, part of Ottawa's Building Canada Fund that earmarks $8.8 billion for infrastructure nationwide, has been tied up while the federal government negotiates the details with Queen's Park.

Ontario cities aren't alone in waiting. Money from the Building Canada Fund has yet to go to cities in Quebec, Alberta or Manitoba because Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon is still negotiating the required framework agreements with those provincial governments as well.

Municipal officials say they've now lost two construction seasons because of funding delays and some fear next season could be in jeopardy, too, unless hurdles are soon cleared. That's causing mounting frustration, as the backlog of work grows and project costs rise...

As best the Federation of Canadian Municipalities can figure, only one municipality in Canada has actually had a project approved for funding under the program – a $20 million commitment for an arena complex in Regina.

Consultations with the provinces and cities over how the fund should be managed actually began two summers ago, according to federal officials. And money for the fund, to be doled out over seven years, was formally announced in the March 2007 federal budget...

Pat Vanini, executive director of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, cautioned that even once the framework agreement is signed with the province, other sub-agreements must be hammered out as well, including deals on how funding will be split between big and small communities.

Obviously a significant part of the story is the Cons' continued devotion to government by press conference, with no interest in doing the work to actually deliver what they've taken credit for. And it's particularly striking that the IPSCO Place debacle itself apparently didn't push anybody to try to get anything moving elsewhere.

However, it's also worth noting how much of the delay seems to have been built into the process by the Cons themselves.

In principle, there's no reason why a province-wide framework to divide up seven years worth of funding would be needed before a dime can flow to a project which has already been agreed to by all three levels of government. But the Cons have instead chosen to hold each project hostage until far larger and thornier questions are dealt with. And that choice, combined with the lack of federal movement in resolving those same questions, virtually ensures that funding won't start moving anytime soon.

In addition, a process which requires a broad-reaching agreement with any province also invites the Cons to play favourites as to which provinces will see their agreements completed first...though at least one can largely say that nobody's yet receiving much preferential treatment.

It remains to be seen how long it'll take before frustrated provinces and municipalities start taking matters into their own hands and simply deciding that promised federal funding isn't worth waiting for. But for now, it seems beyond doubt that the Cons' refusal to make good on their promises and announcements is the single most important obstacle to much-needed infrastructure renewal.