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In March 2009, the federal government introduced the $4-billion Infrastructure Stimulus Fund (ISF) to jump-start the economy following the global financial recession. Through the program, municipalities, provinces and territories, and the private sector can receive funding from the Government of Canada to help cover the costs of building new assets or renewing existing ones. Water and wastewater systems, roads and highways, and community services are some of the categories of infrastructure eligible for funding.

The government sought to select projects which were ready for construction and which would lengthen the life of existing assets. Consequently, stimulus funding serves to both revive the economy and renew public infrastructure. The federal government is committing up to 50 per cent of funding for provincial, territorial, and non-profit private sector assets and up to 33 per cent for municipal projects, most of which are funded by a joint agreement between the federal government, province or territory, and municipality.

Some projects have already been finished, while others are just getting started, yet they must be completed before the March 31, 2011 deadline to ensure receipt of all federal funds.

Federal Stimulus Funding by Province. Click for larger view.

Overall, this snapshot of only a handful of projects reveals how stimulus funding is benefiting communities and contractors alike from coast to coast. The ever-present question is, of course, what happens next? Click on the provinces below for a detailed profile of one stimulus-funded project.

• Alberta
• British Columbia
• Manitoba
• New Brunswick
• Northwest Territories
• Nova Scotia
• Nunavut
• Ontario
• Quebec
• Saskatchewan

Beckie Hydrogeologists, which specializes in groundwater development, is working on the wells. Devin Mutschler, a geologist with the Regina company, says, “The new wells are intended to provide the anticipated future raw water demands of the town of Kerrobert, and also provide redundancy of the raw water supply.”

Although Mutschler explains that work on the well “is proceeding slowly now, mainly due to a combination of the wet weather so far this spring and summer, and to a heavy workload both for us and for the drilling contractor,” all three aspects of the water treatment plant’s upgrades are still scheduled to be completed by December 31, over two months ahead of the federal deadline.

Michele Schmidt, Kerrobert’s administrator, says, “We had already been working on our water treatment plant upgrade for approximately two years prior to being successful in getting [stimulus] funding, so we had a lot of our ground workers and engineering plans already in place when we made applications.”

While this project was lucky enough to get funding, Schmidt admits, “Unfortunately, there’s just not enough funding out there to fund small communities with regard to big projects we have to complete.” On top of Kerrobert’s priority list is replacing its copper piping system with PVC pipes. One city block costs $60,000 to fund, and there are 44 blocks which need upgrading. Currently, two to three blocks are converted a year, making for a slow and expensive process. Thus in Kerrobert, while the water treatment plant will be state-of-the-art by the year’s end, it may take a while more for the municipal water system to be up to date.

Meanwhile, business has boomed at Beckie Hydrogeologists in recent years, despite the lack of funding. Mutschler says, “We have been very busy for the past several years regardless of whether or not there is grant funding available.” His company has been fortunate to survive the dearth of funding, as he adds, “We are continuing to receive requests for proposals for projects for which there is no infrastructure funding, so we believe we will continue to be busy, infrastructure funding or not, into the foreseeable future. Many of the projects on which we are now working are being completed with no infrastructure funding.”

While it’s unlikely the future holds more major government funding programs like the ISF for infrastructure projects, it remains to be seen whether many companies will be able to thrive without it.

In Gatineau, according to the Services des Communications, $32 million is being spent to renew pipelines in 26 city blocks in the sectors of Buckingham, Aylmer, Gatineau, and Hull. While none of the projects have been finished, they are scheduled to be completed before the March 31 deadline. Smaller municipalities in rural Quebec are also renewing their drinking water and wastewater infrastructure thanks to PRECO. The City of Lachute is spending $2.8 million to upgrade its pipelines, with $1.8 million coming from joint federal-provincial funding. Rougemont, in southern Quebec, has already completed its PRECO projects.

Kathia Joseph, Rougement’s directrice générale, says she is “absolutely happy” with the federal-provincial funding for the project, which totaled $271,250, and that the municipality is not too worried about funding infrastructure in the long term, since they don’t have any major infrastructural projects coming up. Few other administrators matched Joseph’s confidence, then again, few other provinces have well-funded programs such as PRECO.

The federal government is contributing $2.5 million to build a bike lane and beautify the streetscape, while the U.S. Embassy is spending $500,000 to replace the unsightly barricades with security bollards. The City of Ottawa is spending $125,000 to relocate water and sewer mains.

The National Capital Commission (NCC) first conceived of Confederation Boulevard in 1983. Since then, the NCC has worked with the municipalities of Ottawa and Gatineau and the U.S. Embassy to implement its ideas. Diane Irwin, project manager in the design and construction division, says, “We had been in discussion with the City and the U.S. Embassy with regard to improving the environment along the embassy frontage, so a number of ideas had been discussed when the ISF came along, including what was acceptable and what was unacceptable.” The NCC has an interest in improving the pedestrian environment and in implementing what Irwin calls “the design vocabulary that identifies the various streets as being part of Confederation Boulevard.” For instance, the NCC will cover the costs of granite curbs above and beyond what the cost would have been were they regular concrete curbs.

The City of Ottawa is working on the more practical elements of the Sussex Drive renovations, such as putting in a dedicated cycling lane. Wayne Newell, general manager for infrastructure services, says the new bike lane should “create a better buffer for cyclists,” which is important given the cycling fatalities which have occurred on other parts of Sussex Drive.

While Newell is pleased with the magnitude of the ISF, he says, “I think there’s a general trend that we’re not spending sufficient funds in looking after what we own. Development charges fund infrastructure in growing areas, but on the renewal front, we have to make sure we continue to put monies towards what we own.” He says in the last two years, Ottawa Council saw the need to spend money on the renewal of infrastructure and provided additional funding.

Now, through the ISF, the federal government is contributing one third of the $748,740 raised to fix the Arctic Winter Games Arena (AWG). The AWG should be finished by the end of this summer before the harsh northern winter sets in. While the problem of melting permafrost isn’t disappearing anytime soon, Iqaluit’s solution was to hire Canadrill to drill over 130 steel tiles up to thirty feet through the muck into the bedrock. Then, a steel grid was laid down over the tiles. The arena floor sits on top. A spokesperson from Nunavut Excavating, another company performing work on the arena, said that they are now working on the outskirting of the arena, putting in bleachers, and finishing up the job.

For future projects, however, Iqaluit must still contend with its small tax base and difficult construction conditions. Amy Elgersma, director of recreation in Iqaluit, says, “Iqaluit is in desperate need of new infrastructure, specifically recreation facilities like a swimming pool and recreation complex.” The capital is the only tax-based community in Nunavut, but the number of taxpayers is still minimal, at 1,200 for a town of 7,000 residents. Thus, Elgersma says that the town is “planning for these much-needed facilities, but we will need infrastructure dollars to make them happen.” She adds that the cost of building is a lot higher in the North. “There are no roads leading to Nunavut, so we rely on shipping or flying supplies North.” At the very least, more hockey teams and rock bands should be flying to Iqaluit in the near future to use the remodeled arena, perhaps bringing in more tax dollars as well.

Faster internet should also help workers in Nova Scotia whose jobs are tied to the dot-com industry. “We have quite a few people who work from home as web designers and in other technical jobs, so now they will still be able to work from home and contribute to their small communities,” says Charleton-Huskins.

Broadband technology will also benefit other municipalities in Nova Scotia, such as East Hants. The region will soon be launching a new website, facilitated by the new broadband connection. Tom Gignac, manager of information systems, says the new system “will enable our councillors to connect at higher speeds and more affordable prices, so it will definitely increase the service and competition.” Before broadband, Gignac says that in many areas, satellite internet was the only means of connecting, causing latency issues which were “prohibitive for real-time sharing of information.”

Parker Donham, director of communications at Seaside High-Speed, says. “I think it’s equivalent to rural electrification of the 1940s and 1950s. It’s pretty much impossible to lead a normal modern life from a rural area without this tool, which has become so taken for granted.”

Seaside is one of three companies working to make province-wide broadband a reality, the other two being EastLink, and OmniGlobe. The province assigned each contractor a geographic area in which to build broadband infrastructure. Seaside is working on northern mainland Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, where the low population density and hilly, craggy terrain has long made it prohibitive to install high-speed internet. Donhamn says, “We’re in the areas that are not economical for anybody else to cover. Aside from very small mom and pop shops in a few places, there has been no interest on the part of major cable companies or telcoms to serve these areas. Some of them are really extremely remote.”

Yet it’s difficult to say whether Seaside’s investment in the province will pay off. Donham says, “Our business model anticipated that with the [ISF] program’s contribution to construction costs, we would have been able to operate the system at a profit. Unfortunately, the numbers of available customers are considerably smaller than the numbers projected in the request for proposals.” In fact, of an estimated 38,000 potential customers pinpointed on the maps used by Seaside to determine where to install broadband coverage, the company found that only 19,000 actually require new services. Donham remains upbeat, saying, “We’re working very hard to market the system and to build up the penetration rates so that we get at least a break-even situation. We’re also taking a strategic look at what other kinds of equipment and services could be deployed from this network of nearly 200 towers. We’re fairly confident that we have a very significant piece of infrastructure that will be an important economic tool for the company and for areas that we can uniquely serve simply because no one else is there.”

Sara Brown, senior administrative officer in Inuvik, says that the town had enough time to choose which projects to submit to the ISF, but adds, “Like all funding, it’s always a challenge, particularly in the North, given the time frame allowed to get things done because we have such a short construction season.” Indeed, while both the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are pushing to have their infrastructure projects completed in the summer months, locations in southern Canada can work all the way through October.

The federal government is investing $67.1 million in the port’s expansion. When completed, the new Port of Belledune will have ferry capacity, three large terminals with barge and roll-on/roll-off cargo capacities, and additional storage space. “It’s infrastructure that will really benefit northern and northeastern New Brunswick entrepreneurs,” says Doucett.

A new focus of the expanded port will be supplying industries like mines and smelters with heavy goods like modular units, which can be used throughout Canada and worldwide. In fact, during a trade mission in Brazil promoting the Atlantic Gateway last April, Belledune Port Authority representatives touted the port’s ability to support modular fabrication. Closer to home, the new modular fabrication facility could benefit from the construction of the Vale Inco nickel-processing facility being built in Long Harbour, Newfoundland, from 360 modular units. Newfoundland can only provide about 10 per cent of the modular units, giving the Port of Belledune an opportunity to supply the rest.

Andre Doucet, city manager and treasurer in the nearby town of Bathurst, says, “Any big project like this is welcome news because the mills and the mining industry are basically closing down now. The Port of Belledune is going to be the industry of the future. Whatever happens there will have a big impact on us because we depend on the port.”

Renovations should be completed on schedule and under budget. The most recent tender went out for $23 million, yet the Port of Belledune was able to award a contract to McNally Corporation for just $20 million. Doucett says, “The time to build is when funding is available.”

Niverville’s chief administrative officer Jim Buys says that the project is on time, and he isn’t worried about what might happen if the March 31, 2011 deadline for ISF projects isn’t met. “We just want to make sure that it is completed. We won’t cross that bridge until we have to, and it’s something we really don’t think we will have to do.” In fact, project manager Joe Strain says that he wants to finish the project by October 2010. His company, Penn-Co Construction, will be doing the forming and concrete work for the new reservoir addition.

Like other municipalities, Niverville is thinking about how it will fund its infrastructure in the future, once the stimulus fund ends. Buys says the current procedure is for the Town to consult its priority list of infrastructure projects on an annual basis.

The town is currently finishing its asset management plan in accordance with provincial and municipal requirements, which mandate that all infrastructure assets must be accounted for. Then, recognizing the available dollars, it prioritizes which projects will be forwarded. Because Niverville is a small town, Buys says most of the prioritizing is still done on paper, “but the day will come when it will all be put into some electronic format.” Generally, to ascertain which infrastructure upgrades to make, the town carries out research on an ongoing basis, takes the information to council, holds an annual planning session to assist in staff reviews and recommendations, and then sets the priorities for the community. Community consultations also take place on a regular basis.

For the water treatment plant, Niverville partnered with the Province to hold a water study to determine how the town would meet the needs of the community in the long term. As a result of this study, the town had the data necessary for submission to the ISF.

Buys said, “Infrastructure funding is definitely a national issue, and it’s one that we’re very concerned about. We’re very thankful that the federal and municipal governments are at the table and discussions are occurring.”

Kirk Bentley, project manager of the Stone Creek Bridge renovation, says “The plan is to have it done on time.” If it runs over schedule and penalties come down from the federal government, Bentley believes the Province will “kick in.”

While he’s not concerned about this project’s timeline, Bentley is worried about the long-term availability of funding for infrastructure. “We’re always worried about it. That’s why we seek federal funds. It’s our number-one concern about funding the highway system for sure.”

Project manager Howard Lee says, “Construction is always a feast or famine situation.” Funding comes in cycles, and right now, his company, Jacob Brothers Construction, is riding the crest of a boom cycle in construction thanks to the ISF. The Surrey, British Columbia, company was awarded a $12-million contract for this $28-million highway job.

When the project is completed, the new four-lane Stone Creek Bridge should provide a better connection between the Prince George and South Cariboo regions. It benefits local construction companies and, according to Bentley, it’s a sound choice for continued economic benefits to the region. “The economic benefits of the four-lane bridge and highway shows a more efficient movement of industrial traffic. It’s anticipated that once the Ridley Island container port at Prince Rupert is at full capacity, there will be a considerable increase in transport trucks on our highways. The free-flowing traffic via four-lanes will improve the delivery.” Expanding highways could help to expand trade opportunities for British Columbia.