Local residents will benefit from the federal government's billion-dollar long-term infrastructure fund, according to Conservative MP James Moore, who spoke in Burnaby about the budget on Friday.
"I think where Burnaby residents will benefit, as will Tri-Cities residents, is the infrastructure fund," said Moore, MP for Port Moody-Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam. "Municipal politicians across the Lower Mainland have asked for steady long-term funding for infrastructure. The previous plan was for five years, then we had two years of stimulus spending, now this is 10 years. Ten years allow municipalities to budget out for the long-term, work with TransLink, work with the province."
Moore said the plan provides a "good chunk of time" for municipalities to come up with priority projects that require long-term funding.
"I think this is something that Derek Corrigan and other mayors, (Vancouver's) Gregor Robertson, (Coquitlam's) Richard Stewart, have all said this is something that's been needed. This is something the Federation of Canadian Municipalities asked for, by the way," he said.
The federal budget, introduced on Thursday, outlines the government's plan to spend $53 billion on infrastructure over 10 years - $43 billion of which is new funding. The investments will focus on highways and transit and favour public-private partnerships. Moore's comments were made at a Burnaby Board of Trade breakfast event on Friday, following a budget speech he delivered to the crowd.
Moore told the audience the Conservatives were given a mandate to focus on the economy.
"That's what we've done, and the economy is growing," he said. "We're controlling government spending going forward, despite increased demands by the NDP and Liberals in Parliament every day to constantly increase spending on virtually everything under the sun."
