Provinces, territories push feds to loosen restrictions on infrastructure cash
OTTAWA — Provincial and territorial governments are asking the federal Liberals to loosen the strings tied to billions in upcoming infrastructure spending, including more relaxed spending requirements if it means too much of a hit to their budgets.
The group is also asking Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi to let provinces and territories move money between funding programs in case there are greater needs in one area, like transit, and leftover cash in another, such as cultural centres.
The demands, delivered on the eve of a meeting between Sohi and his provincial and territorial counterparts in Ottawa, add to the negotiations over how $33 billion in planned federal spending over the next 11 years will be used.
The Liberals want to prevent provinces and territories from using federal dollars in place of their own. But the letter from Ontario’s infrastructure minister seems to push back at that idea, with Bob Chiarelli writing that federal funding “should not result in additional fiscal pressure on provinces, territories, and municipalities.”