Ottawa Report – April 15, 2024

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The next edition of the Ottawa Report is scheduled to be sent Monday, April 22.

Latest News

$6 Billion Infrastructure Program Discussed at CPWA Hill Day

During CPWA’s annual Hill Day in Ottawa, Infrastructure Canada officials delved into the Prime Minister’s April 2nd announcement in advance of the 2024 budget of a new $6 billion Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund, which includes water, wastewater, stormwater, and solid waste infrastructure to support housing construction. While stressing that further details will be available after the budget is presented, they noted that $1 billion of this fund will be sent directly to municipalities to support urgent infrastructure needs. The other $5 billion will be advanced through agreements with the provinces and territories. Provinces will have until January 1, 2025, to secure an agreement, and territories will have until April 1, 2025. If a province or territory does not secure an agreement by their deadline, their funding allocation will be transferred to the municipal stream. To get the funding, provinces and territories will have to:

• Require municipalities to broadly adopt four units as-of-right and allow more “missing middle” homes, including duplexes, triplexes, townhouses, and other multi-unit apartments.
• Implement a three-year freeze on increasing development charges for municipalities with a population greater than 300,000 from April 2, 2024.
• Adopt forthcoming changes to the National Building Code to support more accessible, affordable, and climate-friendly housing options.
• Require as-of-right construction for the government’s upcoming Housing Design Catalogue.
• Implement measures from the Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights and Renters’ Bill of Rights.

While the funding is welcome, $6 billion falls far short of the needs the municipalities are facing. CPWA will continue to advocate for expanded long-term infrastructure funding.

Infrastructure Canada Wants Your Input

In a meeting with senior Infrastructure Canada’s officials responsible for environmental policy, water infrastructure, and nature-based infrastructure systems during this year’s Hill Day, they offered some questions for CPWA to give additional input and insights on, including:

• How is asset management planning conducted across regions, and specifically provincial/municipal collaborative planning and requirements?
• How do you integrate innovation in infrastructure upgrades and replacement to avoid “building back the same?”
• How do you integrate alternative financing in municipal planning?
• What types of tools and information would help planners and decision-makers apply climate mitigation and resilience innovation?
• How are development charges applied across regions within your board/membership?
• In your experience, what infrastructure needs in water and waste are tied to growth with respect to housing conditionality?

CPWA welcomes member input on these questions as we look ahead to this year’s policy development and pre-budget submissions. Please email Teresa Hon at thon@apwa.org by April 30 with your input, which will directly impact the work we will present in the coming year to parliamentarians and officials.

Another Successful CPWA Hill Day

CPWA board members held their annual Hill Day in Ottawa on April 9th and 10th to discuss priorities and issues in eight meetings with officials and associations. In addition to the meeting with Infrastructure Canada, board members met with:

• Public Safety Canada and Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada to push for the need to include public works officials as first responders in the development of Canada’s Public Safety Broadband Network (PSBN). CPWA’s relationship building has resulted in a direct line with the officials responsible for this policy, and an advance notice of an upcoming consultation on the governance of the PSBN. The government is seeking input on a not-for-profit or crown corporation model, as well as input on themes such as board composition, advisory committees, centralized functions versus distributed functions, etc. CPWA has been working on this issue with the government since before the pandemic and will seek input from members at the launch of the consultation, coming within the next few weeks.
• A Director General of the new Canada Water Agency, launched recently within Environment and Climate Change Canada but will soon be a stand-alone agency based in Winnipeg. CPWA has been advocating for the creation of this coordinating body and sees its creation as a win. The agency seeks to improve freshwater outcomes, restore, protect, and manage waterbodies of national significance, and improve freshwater quality.
• The policy advisor to the Prime Minister, Harry Orbach-Miller, is responsible for the infrastructure file. He pointed to the two competing pressures that the government is currently facing: below-average investment in Canada on water-related infrastructure and transit, as well as what is needed to manage infrastructure for growth. CPWA board members emphasized the need for a holistic approach to housing since significant upgrades are needed to water and wastewater systems to accommodate infilling in particular. Orbach-Miller also noted that the next-generation infrastructure strategy that was supposed to launch last fall has now been delayed. This is likely due to the reorganization of the department around housing, as well as overall fiscal constraints. He underscored that the Rural Transit Solutions Fund has been underutilized to date. He asked for any ideas from members on how to get better uptake. CPWA welcomes member input on this by emailing Teresa Hon at thon@apwa.org by April 30.
• Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant is the local MP for incoming CPWA President Lee Perkins. CPWA introduced MP Gallant to our organization and our priorities as her party seeks to form government in next year’s federal election.
• CPWA also renewed its strong relationship with allied associations through meetings with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association, and the Canadian Construction Association to discuss shared priorities, including the need to advocate for a new long-term and comprehensive infrastructure investment plan.

Opportunity on New Roster of Climate and Infrastructure Experts

Infrastructure Canada (INFC) is accepting applications for the establishment and delivery of a Roster of Climate and Infrastructure Experts (Roster). The submission deadline is June 10, 2024, by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. The Roster will consist of pre-qualified experts who will help municipalities across Canada strengthen climate considerations in their infrastructure projects.

INFC will contribute up to $16.5 million to design, deliver, and administer this project over four years, from 2024–25 through 2027–28. Learn more about the Roster of Climate and Infrastructure Experts’ call for proposals here.

Should you be interested in submitting a proposal to establish and deliver the Roster, please email Climate-Infra-Climat@infc.gc.ca to obtain an application form and budget template. The team can answer any questions you may have about the call for proposals.

Virtual information sessions will be offered in English and French to provide further details about this call for proposals and to answer questions from potential applicants. To attend, please register for the information session(s) of your choice using the links below.

• Wednesday, April 24, 2024, from 2–3 p.m. Eastern Time [English]. Register here.
• Thursday, April 25, 2024, from 2–3 p.m. Eastern Time [French]. Register here.

Funding Available for Wildland Fire Knowledge

Funding to “Build and Mobilize Foundational Wildland Fire Knowledge” is open to municipalities. With $48 Million to invest over four years starting in April 2024, the Build and Mobilize Foundational Wildland Fire Knowledge Program aims to encourage collaborative research and demonstration projects focused on innovation in wildfire risk assessment, risk mitigation, and adaptive forest management as per the Blueprint for Wildland Fire Science in Canada. This new program will address gaps in foundational knowledge by developing and evaluating wildland fire risk assessment and risk mitigation strategies and technologies that support Indigenous peoples, local and provincial/territorial governments, and fire management agencies to reduce wildfire risk in the face of a changing climate.”

Parliamentary Business

Budget to be Presented Tuesday

On Tuesday, April 16, at 4 p.m. Eastern Time, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Hon. Chrystia Freeland, will present the 2024 federal budget. The government has taken the novel approach this year of doing a series of “pre-announcements” for the budget in an attempt to gain more traction for its plan amid sagging poll numbers. CPWA will provide a comprehensive budget analysis in next week’s Ottawa report.

Federal Funding Awarded

Canada Infrastructure Bank’s Indigenous Infrastructure Funding

Government provided a response to an Order Paper Question about the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s (CIB) Indigenous Infrastructure Initiative (ICII) and Indigenous Equity Initiative (IEI) fundings. The response noted that as of February 15, 2024, the CIB has committed $312.2 million towards 11 projects, benefitting 59 Indigenous communities under the ICII and IEI, which will be deployed over a period closely resembling each respective project’s construction timeline. In addition, on February 15, the CIB also announced an investment commitment of $138.2 million to support the development of Atlantic Canada’s largest planned energy storage project by Nova Scotia Power Inc., or NS Power, in collaboration with Wskijinu’k Mtmo’taqnuow Agency Ltd., or WMA, an economic limited partnership owned by 13 Mi’kmaw communities.

With respect to the total amount of funding delivered through each of CIB’s priority industry sector, the response indicated that the information can be accessed through its annual and quarterly reports.

Public Transit Investment

On April 10, the Hon. Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure, and Communities, announced a federal investment of $6.1 million to fund 11 public transit projects across rural Saskatchewan. The investment will support the purchase of passenger buses and smaller vehicles, including wheelchair-accessible vans.

The federal government is investing $6,184,137 in these projects through the Rural Transit Solutions Fund (RTSF), and the recipients are contributing $173,528. The RTSF helps Canadians living in rural and remote areas get around their communities more easily by supporting the development of rural transit solutions, including new transit service models that could be replicated or scaled up.

Canada Infrastructure Bank Invests in New Water and Wastewater Infrastructure

Announced on March 26, Canada Infrastructure Bank commits $140 million to boost water quality for southern Manitobans. The loan will support five communities and is part of the green infrastructure partnership. The recipient municipalities are receiving funding from the provincial government of Manitoba and the federal government through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program.

Powell River Recreational Facility Upgrade

On April 11, Minister Sean Fraser announced an investment of more than $1.6 million in green retrofit upgrades to a recreational facility in Powell River, British Columbia. Funding will support the installation of an ice plant heat recovery system at the Powell River Recreation Complex.

The federal government is investing $1,693,179 in this project through the Green and Inclusive Community Buildings program. The city-owned entity Powell River Community Forest and BC Hydro are also supporting the project with contributions of $564,464 and $195,600, respectively.

Disaster Mitigation Infrastructure Improvement in British Columbia

Five communities across British Columbia are receiving a combined investment of more than $26 million from the federal, provincial, and municipal governments, as announced by Minister Sean Fraser and Minister Bowinn Ma on April 11.

The federal government is investing $10.4 million through the Green Infrastructure Stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. The Government of British Columbia is investing more than $8.6 million, and municipal governments are contributing a combined $6.9 million and are responsible for any additional costs.