P.E.I. Federation of Municipalities anxious for infrastructure money

Bruce MacDougall, a Summerside councillor and president of the P.E.I. Federation of Municipalities says he's pleased with the federal budget and what it will bring to smaller municipalities. 

"It's early in the game and I guess the devil is always in the details but overall it looks like a great day for municipalities on P.E.I. and right across the country," said MacDougall. 

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"We're excited about the commitment that has been made and looking forward to working with our partners to get this thing off the ground as fast as possible."

But how soon the infrastructure funds will be available is a concern, MacDougall told Mitch Cormier on CBC Radio's Island Morning.

He said the federation met with provincial counterparts about the infrastructure monies and expressed the same concerns as Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee that funds had to be to be made available soon for planned projects.

Shovel ready projects 

"We need to get things moving as soon as possible because of a couple things. We need to get people back to work and we don't have the glory of long construction seasons here on P.E.I. so that's one of the things we'll be working on," said MacDougall.

While he did not list any specific shovel ready projects, MacDougall said Charlottetown did have a number of projects that are ready to start.

"A lot of the municipalities are basically shovel ready projects in water, sewerage and construction. These are the big projects."

MacDougall said the budget also provided a better funding formula, up to 50 per cent from the federal government for smaller municipalities.

He said this will help those communities that don't always have the funds needed for cost sharing.

"All the municipalities are struggling and that's why we're talking about revenue sharing formulas and all that stuff."

MacDougall said they needed and got a commitment from the province to fully support the infrastructure funding formula that comes down.

"We all do what we can do and we have to remember there is only one taxpayer," said MacDougall.

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