Evidence of meeting #25 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was funding.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Graydon Smith  President, Association of Municipalities of Ontario
Paul Kariya  Senior Policy Advisor, Coastal First Nations Great Bear Initiative
Jacques Demers  President, Fédération québécoise des municipalités
David Boulet  Economic Advisor, Fédération québécoise des municipalités
Walter Sendzik  Mayor of St. Catharines and Vice-Chair, Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative
Jim Bradley  Regional Chair, Regional Municipality of Niagara
Rob Foster  Regional Councillor, Town of Lincoln, Regional Municipality of Niagara
Christine Smith-Martin  Executive Director, Coastal First Nations Great Bear Initiative
Clerk of the Committee  Mr. Jean-François Pagé

5:40 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Vance Badawey

Thank you, Mr. Kariya and Mr. Bachrach. You took up the time with a great answer there.

Before I move to adjourn, I want to give Mr. Smith an opportunity to clarify one thing based on the great answer he gave earlier. That was about sustainable funding, the gas tax, etc. We very much respect this process, because a lot of this testimony finds its way to the analysts, and of course, they come back with a report based on testimony. With that said, I want to give Mr. Smith an opportunity to get that testimony into the record.

Mr. Smith, you mentioned earlier sustainable funding. My question to you is this: If the amounts were to increase, for the gas tax, for example, and the municipalities were then able to have that sustainable funding envelope in place—with that said and debenture opportunities then becoming more relevant because you have that sustainable funding envelope that can offset that annual debenture payment on your operating budget—do you think that would, in fact, mitigate the oversubscription of the programs that we are actually offering as well as expedite infrastructure work?

5:40 p.m.

President, Association of Municipalities of Ontario

Graydon Smith

It would, to a point, but I don't think it would solve it entirely. I think there is still a need for programs that address major capital infrastructure pieces.

I'll use the example of my own community again. We planned for 10 years for an eventuality where we received funding, and we didn't get funding. We're going to use a significant amount of our available debenture capacity to move forward with the project regardless, because of the age of our facilities.

If you are in a small community and want to build an arena, it costs just as much as if you're in a big community and want to build an arena. The capacity in small communities for debt is certainly limited, so I'm not going to say that the money wouldn't be welcome, wouldn't be appreciated and wouldn't be put to good use.

As I've said, sustainable, predictable and enduring funding is important. However, at the same time, there is only so much debt capacity for—especially—small communities to tap into because their tax bases are just so small.

5:40 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Vance Badawey

That's a good point.

Gentlemen and ladies, thank you. This was a great session. I think it was one of the best sessions we've had this term. I want to thank each and every one of you for your time today. You put a lot of time in, with a lot of great answers.

Members, those were a lot of great questions. It was a very productive meeting.

With that, I thank you all, and I will take this opportunity to adjourn this meeting. We'll see you all next Tuesday.

Thank you.