Madam Speaker, I want to begin today by thanking the good people of Barrie—Innisfil for their confidence in electing me as their first member of Parliament in the new riding of Barrie—Innisfil. I also want to thank my family—my wife Liane and my sons Jeff, Court, Mitchell, and Matthew—for all their love and support.
I have big shoes to fill. With riding redistribution and now representing Barrie and Innisfil, I have replaced two very hard-working and well-respected members of Parliament in these communities: Mr. Patrick Brown, now leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, and the current member for York—Simcoe. They both work tirelessly for their constituents. I will continue to do the same as the member for Barrie—Innisfil.
Barrie—lnnisfil is a diverse mix of urban and rural. It is home to large employers, like auto parts manufacturer Matsui, and one of the largest onion farms in all of Canada, Horodynsky Farms.
Barrie—lnnisfil is a key driver of central Ontario's economic engine and is a growing player in the Canadian economy. Barrie—lnnisfil has one of the lowest unemployment rates in Ontario and is entrepreneurial to its very core. As the mayor of Barrie, Mr. Jeff Lehman, often states, entrepreneurialism is rooted into the DNA of our area. Meanwhile, Mayor Gord Wauchope, of lnnisfil, is leading his council with a vision to create an economic development corridor along Highway 400 that starts in lnnisfil and leads into Barrie. If ever there was a poster child for investments in infrastructure, Barrie—lnnisfil certainly is one as we begin our next phase of significant growth.
I would also like to point out that we like our business taxes low. We do not like government red tape delaying projects or getting in the way of our entrepreneurial spirit.
Barrie—Innisfil is also blessed to be situated on the waters of Lake Simcoe and Kempenfelt Bay. It is a 365-day-a-year destination, attracting tourists from all over North America. These waters alone inject $200 million annually into our local economy through tourism and recreation. Suffice to say, we are very sensitive to the need to preserve and protect this jewel in central Ontario.
We are also a growing and increasingly diverse community with a large and proud Filipino and South Asian community, many of whom I am proud to call not just my constituents but my friends.
The Liberal government's Speech from the Throne sets Canada on a path to higher deficits, higher debt, and higher taxes. While the new government's list was long when it comes to spending on grand schemes, it was short on detail and how these commitments would roll out.
As the official opposition critic for urban affairs, I would like to talk today about infrastructure and the serious challenges communities face, including my communities of Barrie and lnnisfil. With less than 10% of the overall tax revenues at their disposal and nearly 90% of the burden to fund infrastructure, municipalities across Canada need more help to meet their obligations. My riding of Barrie—lnnisfil is no exception, and as a former long-time city councillor in Barrie, I understand all too well the battle being waged at the local level to combat infrastructure deficits.
Allow me to give a little more detail and background on the riding. In 2006, the Ontario government passed the Places to Grow Act, and the city of Barrie was targeted by the province to realize a near 100% increase in population by 2031. Three years later, the same government at Queen's Park passed the Barrie-lnnisfil Boundary Adjustment Act, and the city's boundaries increased the municipality's area by 30% overnight. Twenty-three square kilometres of largely rural and unserviced land from the township of lnnisfil was annexed into Barrie, many say kicking and screaming. With the direction to grow rapidly, to increase transit, and to follow intensification guidelines, the Ontario Liberal government largely left Barrie and lnnisfil to their own devices when it came to how to pay for all this growth and how to face the very real problems that rapid growth brings.
In the years that followed, all levels of government have made many efforts to address the needs of the Barrie—lnnisfil area, but so much more needs to be done. I have met with the mayors of both Barrie and Innisfil numerous times on the issue of infrastructure funding, and they are not ashamed to say that they could use more heIp. The city of Barrie currently has nine significant shovel-ready projects for this year that will cost $52 million, and the town of lnnisfil has no fewer than a dozen pressing improvements needing funding in 2016.
The previous Conservative government made significant investment in the Barrie—lnnisfil area. Barrie received significant funding for projects like the Highway 400, Duckworth interchange, the new wellness centre at Georgian College, and the Lampman Lane Community Centre refurbishment.
Federal infrastructure monies helped secure a central fire station in Barrie. Monies flowed for a new transit facility, and significant federal commitments helped build two new GO stations and a GO service that had disappeared many years ago, which was restored for the commuters of Barrie-Innisfil.
I also cannot overstate how critical the previous Conservative government's investment in the Lake Simcoe cleanup fund has been for our environment and to our local economy. Unprecedented federal investments totalling $60 million were partnered with local municipalities, conservation authorities, and stakeholders to take action to protect and preserve these valuable waters.
In the 1990s, the average phosphorous load levels for Lake Simcoe were well over 100 tons per year. The Lake Simcoe/southeastern Georgian Bay cleanup fund was the catalyst to improve environmental monitoring, conserve critical aquatic habitat, and reduce the discharge of phosphorous from point and non-point sources.
The plan was a success, as the latest data shows. Annual phosphorous loads have significantly decreased. As a member whose riding benefits from a clean Lake Simcoe economically and recreationally, I am asking the government to continue the partnerships with so many cities and towns and people who have invested so much of their time and money to keep our local waterways clean beyond 2017, when the current funding is scheduled to end.
However, the strongest commitment made by the former government was to enhance the former temporary gas fund after taking office and to later index it and make it permanent. I want to spend the remaining time I have to speak about this and to make a suggestion to the government.
This funding stream was instrumental to communities across the country, and certainly to a city like Barrie. Prior to 2006, the city of Barrie was receiving less than $2 million annually. By 2010, the amount had quadrupled to $8 million. The gas tax fund provides predictable, long-term stable funding for Canadian municipalities to help them build and realize their local public infrastructure and to create jobs and long-term prosperity.
The Canadian economy is facing strong headwinds. The Liberal government has publicly stated that it will be making short-term investments in infrastructure of roughly $2 billion over the next two years, which ironically is an amount equal to the total amount cities and towns across the country currently receive annually from the federal gas tax fund.
I suggest strongly to the government that if it is going to follow through with its stated promise of $2 billion in new funding for infrastructure that it consider releasing the money immediately, doubling the federal gas tax transfers to municipalities this year.
I make the suggestion for a few reasons. I believe that all parties acknowledge that our economy has reversed its course. In addition, the criteria and formula already exist and there would be no need to reinvent the wheel. Municipalities know how much to expect in 2016 and have already budgeted for it in their capital and operating plans.
A one-time doubling of the transfer would mean, for example, that the city of Barrie would receive $16 million in this coming year and the town of Innisfil $3.4 million to put toward projects already identified as being shovel-ready, and to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities' point, shovel-worthy.
The most important point I would like to make is that by doing this now, the government will be putting money into the hands of local councils that have already completed their budget process. Having already identified priority projects in their asset management programs, municipalities are now heading into the tender process before the construction season starts and before labour and material costs inevitably rise, as they do during construction season.
Again, if the government intends to spend $2 billion on infrastructure quickly, doubling the federal gas tax fund is an efficient and equitable way to move quickly on an issue of national importance. It is also the fairest way to distribute sorely needed funds for infrastructure to ridings across the country and to thereby avoid any potential criticism of partisan decision-making.
It is the right way to do it, and it is the fair way to do it. The template is there. The government just has to follow it. I am aware, as I believe all Canadians are, that the Liberal election platform relating to infrastructure was ambitious. Doubling the fund now would help municipalities tackle their biggest issues, stimulate a sagging economy, and give the new government some room to work out their long-term infrastructure policies moving forward.