Gas tax deal

It's official. Saskatchewan has signed an agreement on the federal gas tax rebate:

The Saskatchewan deal will see $147.7 million in federal gas taxes given to municipalities large and small across the province over five years...

The deal springs from the February federal budget, which promised a $5 billion, five-year program to share gas taxes with municipalities across Canada.

The program limits where the money can be spent. Larger cities, for instance, are required to use the cash for environmentally friendly projects, such as improved public transit, better sewage systems or research into reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Definitely a worthy initiative, and both the provincial government and SUMA (the association of municipalities who'll actually be bound by the restrictions) are happy with the deal.

Of course, the Cons and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation had to find some way to complain. In this case, they apparently don't think municipalities can decide for themselves what type of deal is worth signing, and are accordingly up in arms over the requirement that urban municipalities use the money on environmentally-responsible projects.

But that contrarianism aside, the biggest problem with the deal is that it wasn't reached sooner.