Capital funding stability helpful
For all the controversy over the federal budget, its provisions to begin addressing Canada’s tens of billions in unfunded infrastructure are at least a step in the right direction.
The importance of this program was clear when Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday began to put the meat on the bones of his New Building Canada Fund rather than leave the job to his lowly transportation or infrastructure ministers or even embattled Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.
Even with the details he laid out, however, it will be some days before Saskatoon really can figure out which of its dozens of much needed projects will qualify for funding or how it must go about applying to the program.
But civic and Federation of Canadian Municipalities officials were justifiably pleased that their dire needs were being recognized, and that the federal government was making a long-term commitment to predictable and stable funding.
When it comes to civic planning, the predictability factor is especially important. Because of their lack of adequate taxing tools and the requirement that they budget on a break-even basis that doesn’t allow them to take chances, it’s absolutely crucial to have access to a predictable source of funds for needed projects.
The new federal program also appears to be more flexible than past programs, which means the money can be more easily accessed. The Saskatchewan government could take a page from this federal lesson in predictability.
It’s worth noting that funds transfers from senior governments are not simply a bit of largesse doled out to local governments. As the Federation of Canadian Municipalities points out, municipal governments own and operate the vast majority of Canada’s important economic infrastructure. If they aren’t given the tools or resources to maintain these systems, it won’t be long before Canada lags far behind its international partners and competitors.
In many ways Saskatoon has become a poster city for these challenges. As Standard & Poor’s Rating Service pointed out in its recent assessment of the city, Saskatoon’s economic and population growth is challenging the city’s ability to provide the “services and infrastructure needed to meet its burgeoning population.”
Unless these challenges are met, the city’s success could begin to strangle its productivity. Addressing Saskatoon’s existing large capital backlog could lead to an increasing debt burden, the report says. This debt will be manageable as long as the city can maintain its economic edge.
It’s worth remembering that Saskatoon’s economic sustainability is not only important for its own citizens but that the city is also part of a network of major communities that drive the provincial and federal economy. That’s why it needs and deserves the help of these other levels of government in order to function.
What it doesn’t need, however, are the political games that have left it in the dark over such projects as the north commuter bridge and a new overpass planned for Highway 11 from Stonebridge. The editorials that appear in this space represent the opinion of The StarPhoenix. They are unsigned because they do not necessarily represent the personal views of the writers. The positions taken in the editorials are arrived at through discussion among the members of the newspaper’s editorial board, which operates independently from the news departments of the paper.