Federal causeway funding far from a sure thing

Election campaigns giveth, but elections can taketh away.

Peterborough city and county politicians might keep that twist on an old saying in mind before spending on two major projects begins.

Those would be a rebuild of the James A. Gifford Causeway (county) and a new green waste collection and composting system (city).

County council on Wednesday gave the go-ahead to a $9.6-million widening of the causeway linking Bridgenorth to Ennismore across Chemong Lake.

The financing math seems to add up. The provincial government has promised $3.1 million and Ottawa is expected to contribute another $4.8 million.

That federal money is key, but Warden J. Murray Jones isn’t concerned that it is, so far, only numbers on a funding application.

“There’s no question we are going to get it,” the warden said, “and there’s no urgency for it, this year.”

Hmmm. Maybe there is a question. The City of Peterborough’s big new project is Example A.

The city has been working on a “green box” curbside pickup and composting system for more than a decade. Eighteen months ago it looked like everything was finally in place, thanks largely to $7.5 million in provincial funding. Contracts with a private operator were signed, a site was ready to go ... and then came an election.

Those provincial millions were coming from the then-Liberal government’s Municipal Greenhouse Gas Challenge Fund, fuelled by revenue from a capand-trade carbon reduction program. When Premier Doug Ford and his government were elected, cap-and-trade was gone and so were the provincial grant and Peterborough’s composting plant.

The causeway funding has a potentially worrisome parallel. That $4.8 million — not yet confirmed — would come from the Liberal government’s Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. A federal election is less than three weeks away and the Liberals and Conservatives are running neck-and-neck.

A new Conservative Party of Canada government would not seamlessly adopt the Liberal’s infrastructure program. The money might still arrive, but any assurances the county has been getting from the current MP and her government would be worthless. As for the city’s composting plan, the same worrisome factor applies, but more so.

The whole green waste system — trucks, green bins, support systems and a composting plant — will cost $15.3 million. Right now, the federal government is in for $6.1 million and the city will fund the rest.

That federal money is coming from the Liberal government’s Low Carbon Economy Fund, part of its Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change.

Which takes us back to that Oct. 21 election. A possible Conservative victory. A government headed by Prime Minister Andrew Scheer. An almost certain redo, possibly cancellation, of any Liberal program labelled “Clean Growth” or “Climate Change.”

City council approved the green waste project on Monday, knowing all that background.

Councillors would also be remembering another take-away from last year’s provincial election, when the new Ford government killed $18 million in promised Liberal funding for a twin-pad arena.

However, they were forced into a corner by an Oct. 10 deadline to accept the composting grant or lose it.

The coming election could put an end to one or both projects. The wise course would be to not sign any contracts until that question is cleared up.

And not to ignore the history of elections that taketh away.