Mr. Speaker, the government appreciates the opportunity to correct the impression left by the hon. member's question, namely, the Atlantic provinces are not receiving their fair share of federal highway funding.
I remind the hon. member that the $175 million referred to was for improvements to the grain roads in the four western provinces as part of the grain handling and transportation reform announced on May 10. To suggest that the Atlantic provinces need an equal program ignores the numerous programs that we have put in place for Atlantic Canada.
The government established the Atlantic freight transition program which provided the four Atlantic provinces and Quebec highway funding of $326 million between 1995 and 1996 and 2000 and 2001.
Under the auspices of the highway improvement program the federal government committed to allocate $462.8 million to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to fund highway projects. A balance of approximately $100 million remains to be spent in New Brunswick.
The government also contributed $43 million to New Brunswick and P.E.I. to assist with the additional highway contribution associated with increased traffic due to the construction of a fixed link.
The province of Newfoundland and Labrador continues to benefit. The Newfoundland transportation initiative provides $640 million over five years from 1997-98 to 2002-03 for major improvements to the Trans-Canada Highway and to regional truck roads following the termination of the Newfoundland railway.
All provinces also receive funding for the strategic highway improvement program. It allowed the federal government to invest $515 million between 1993-94 and 1999-2000 in highway projects all across Canada.
In the 2000 budget speech the Minister of Finance announced over $2 billion for municipal infrastructure and $600 million for highways.
Federal-provincial-territorial agreements for Infrastructure Canada have recently been signed with several provinces. Negotiations are still under way with other jurisdictions and it is hoped that agreements will be signed shortly.
The formal negotiation process for highway infrastructure has not yet begun. Funding for the strategic highway infrastructure program only starts in 2002-03 and the program design is under development prior to the start of negotiations.