Improving infrastructure in small municipalities

NRU
Aug. 27, 2014

At last week’s Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference, Premier Kathleen Wynne announced two funding sources - Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund and Build Canada Fund - Small Communities Fund.

The OCIF is a permanent $100-million fund for municipalities with less than 100,000 population and Northern Ontario cities. It will provide $50-million on a formula basis and $50-million on an application basis for critical infrastructure projects identified under asset management plans. A guidebook is available which sets out how the formula portion is to be calculated for allocation purposes and the grant application process which begins with expressions of interest due September 19th.

In addition, the small communities’ component of the Build Canada Fund is open for applications in Ontario and eligible project categories are now larger. That process is also described in the guidebook. The BCF-SCF is a 1/3 share program with a total federal and provincial contribution of $544-million for municipal governments under 100,000 population.