I want to say thank you for inviting us to come and give you as much information as we have with regard to infrastructure. My specific responsibility is working with Minister Baird with regard to Alberta, Saskatchewan, and some of the crown corporations. I'll explain some of that.
Really our focus is jobs and the economy and making sure that we get through this very difficult economic time on behalf of Canadians. Canadians are coming out of it. We didn't ask for this recession, we didn't cause it in any way, but we are certainly dealing with it as best we know how.
Most of my remarks will be focused on Alberta and Saskatchewan. That's my specific role with regard to the infrastructure dollars. We work very closely with the municipalities and the provincial governments, and this is a very important part of it, understanding that they put up two-thirds of the money and we leverage three to one as much as possible. So we dovetail alongside in a coordinated effort, not only in choosing the projects but also in funding the projects and how they are administered. We work very closely with them in the whole area of stimulus funding, and actually the acceleration of the $33 billion, which is the Building Canada fund. So they have been accelerated as well.
We have listened to the small communities, such as Vibank, Saskatchewan, which selected projects for quality drinking water. It's important to know where our priorities were, where the provinces' priorities and the municipalities' priorities were. No question, waste water was number one. Roads, bridges, and highways usually came in at number two. Then transit and also ring roads became very hot and very important to the areas of Alberta and Saskatchewan. I believe that is reflected right across the country.
I'm pleased to report to the committee that of the 28 members of Parliament in Alberta, I have not heard one complaint of any of the infrastructure spending. That includes the member from Edmonton--Strathcona, who is the only opposition member. In fact, this is what she said: “To tell you the truth, I've noticed that I am attracting a lot of money to my riding.” That was the member from Edmonton--Strathcona in the Edmonton Journal on September 25, 2009.
We have to understand that the leveraging part of this is very important, making sure that we leverage two to one, three to one, wherever possible, and we've been able to do that. I can get into the numbers in the question and answer part more clearly.
In the time I have left I'd like to talk a little bit about some of the crown corporations, because they have a significant amount of stimulus as well. We have 16 crown corporations under Transport, 15 under my jurisdiction. Many of you have been watching VIA Rail very closely. VIA Rail is one. There is $407 million in the economic action plan primarily to be able to deal with the refurbishing of the locomotives and making sure they are more energy efficient and more environmentally acceptable and also able to provide the service for Canadians long into the 21st century. The corridor between Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal is where the bulk of the money is being spent with regard to rail upgrades. At the end of that, we'll have a half-hour shorter train ride when it goes from Montreal to Toronto. That is very important.
Marine Atlantic is another one that is very important to us. We brought on a new Atlantic Vision ship that will help, and it has helped, although there are some significant problems with Marine Atlantic yet. We were out there a week or two ago to address some of that and look at the long-term goals. But we have been able to invest in some of the harbour infrastructure as well as CATSA, the airport security--a significant amount of money, $355 million, in the economic action plan. We dare not be the weakest link when it comes to security.
Our project is timely. We have to get this money out now. We have to make sure we deal with putting people to work and getting Canadians good infrastructure. It has to be targeted so that it's projects that are very important to Canadians and to long-term sustainability and competitiveness. Believe me, it has to be temporary.
With that, we do see the green shoots coming. We do see some positive signs, but we have a way to go. We just have to work hard together to be able to make these green shoots take root.
Thank you.