Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I stand in the House today to talk about the importance of public infrastructure to help drive the Canadian economy. It is a very important issue.
Last week in the Speech from the Throne, our government reaffirmed its deep commitment to infrastructure. We all know that infrastructure investment is vital to Canada's future prosperity. Infrastructure is in fact the motor of productivity. It promotes trade, stimulates economic growth, ensures strong communities, and something important to me and most Canadians, a healthy environment. Infrastructure helps directly our environment.
That is why the Conservative government is moving forward to implement its building Canada plan. It is a plan that involves a historic effort that is without precedent in this great country on the part of the federal government. This plan will invest $33 billion to renew Canada's public infrastructure over the next seven years. This plan will deliver results that matter to Canadians. Some of those results include faster commutes, cleaner water, cleaner air, and safer roads and bridges. They are very important issues to Canadians.
This government understands how important it is to provide the provinces, territories and municipalities with the ability to plan for the future. Imagine in our own households not knowing what was coming in next month, next week or next year. That is why over 50% of the funding provided under building Canada, a total of more than $17 billion, is base funding for municipalities. This includes the extension of the gas tax fund until 2014 for which payments to municipalities will total $2 billion a year starting in 2010.
The plan also includes funding of $25 million a year for each and every province and territory. This will provide a significant and reliable amount of funding to help the provinces and territories address infrastructure priorities and to know well in advance what money they have in order to pay for the groceries. This will include national priorities of this government, like clean water, the national highway system that stretches from coast to coast, transit and green energy. Over the course of seven years this amounts to more than $2.2 billion nationally. It is great news for Canadians.
We listen to Canadians. That is why our government has made the protection and promotion of a clean environment a key national objective. Investment in infrastructure can indeed be a powerful tool in attaining environmental objectives.
The plan will continue to contribute to the growth of public transit which is so important in our larger cities and which is one of the plan's top five priorities. In this we will continue on the path shown through our additional investments in transit in the greater Toronto area, in Vancouver and in Calgary.
Through the gas tax fund alone we will provide $11.8 billion over the next seven years to Canadian cities and communities. It is great news for our cities. This funding can also apply to environmentally sustainable infrastructure which includes transit.
In the Speech from the Throne we made a clear commitment through our building Canada plan to clean up contaminated sites and promote brownfield redevelopment. This will help improve Canada's infrastructure and will help Canadians health be better. I was shocked to learn when I came to the House that we have somewhere in the range of 20,000 contaminated sites in this country. It is an embarrassing record and something which the government is taking positive steps to remedy.
A major component of the building Canada plan is of course the $8.8 billion building Canada fund. The fund actually focuses on strategic infrastructure projects that will deliver economic, environmental and social benefits for all Canadians at the national and local levels. It is great news for all Canadians.
A good example is that on October 15 we announced a commitment of up to $50 million to the clean water Huron Elgin London project. This initiative will improve clean drinking water access to half a million residents in some 20 southwestern Ontario municipalities. It is great news for the people of Ontario.
As well, we all know the importance of access to technology, particularly the broadband, to communities. This Conservative government has taken positive steps in that direction. We are clearly committed to helping communities have access to this important tool. Just a couple of weeks ago, together with the government of Nova Scotia, the federal government made a clear commitment to help provide 100% broadband coverage in Nova Scotia by 2009. It is great news for Nova Scotians. This complements other broadband investments we are making in the north.
Our plan provides for implementation of a public-private partnerships fund with a budget of $1.25 billion. Through this fund, we are taking a leadership role in developing P3 opportunities throughout the country. This will extend and increase the amount of money available for infrastructure projects, which is really going to help Canadians enjoy a better quality of life.
Last, our plan includes the gateways and border crossings fund with a budget of $2.1 billion, in addition to new and continued funding allocated in budget 2007 for the Asia Pacific gateway and corridor initiative. It now totals over $1 billion, which is great news for western Canadians, especially those in British Columbia.
In the past few months our government has signed two memoranda of understanding with six provincial governments. It is an example of a federal government that can get along with its provincial counterparts and actually get positive results for Canadians from coast to coast to coast. These agreements commit us to a study of strategic ports and commercial corridors in central and Atlantic Canada.
As we stated in our Speech from the Throne, the government will soon be announcing further details on how our building Canada plan's $33 billion will be invested. In the meantime, money is already flowing to communities through the gas tax fund and the 100% GST rebate.
Municipalities across the country are already using this fund to help meet their infrastructure needs. Whether it is the expansion of the TransLink fleet in Vancouver, British Columbia, or water projects across the river from here in Gatineau, Quebec, the Conservative government is delivering positive results for all Canadians.
What we are doing with our building Canada plan goes well beyond the Government of Canada's financial contribution to infrastructure. What we are doing is helping build the Canada of the 21st century, a Canada that will be stronger, safer and better. This is great news for all Canadians and a reflection of what Canadians tell us they want.
Along with other levels of government and the private sector, our building Canada plan will inject more than $50 billion--that is right, $50 billion--to ramp up all the infrastructure in this country. As all members in the House are aware, we have an infrastructure deficit of over $100 billion, as identified by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. The Conservative government has listened to Canadians and is moving forward to fix that deficit.
The previous Liberal government left us with history's most challenging infrastructure gap. We are taking action as a government that listens to Canadians to speed up world class infrastructure for Canada and for all Canadians. We are delivering, for the first time in Canadian history, the long term, predictable funding that has been asked for by the municipalities. That is what provinces, cities and communities are looking forward to, want and are going to get, because this government delivers results.