'We don't want to see that money stolen,' Winnipeg mayor says as funding fracas festers with province
Provincial government tells city to pick a project or give up millions in federal funding dollars
Not even the spirit of the holidays can keep the province of Manitoba and City of Winnipeg from getting into a good old-fashioned funding fight — even when it doesn't involve their own money.
The two sides are at odds over an unallocated portion of the federal Investing in Canada Infrastructure Fund — Public Transit Infrastructure Stream, targeted for the City of Winnipeg.
In the fall, the city asked for a transfer of $321 million from the fund to be used for work on Winnipeg's North End Water Pollution Control Centre, in effect moving it from an allocation earmarked for transit to a green infrastructure project.
The province had no problem with that request and there is no indication the federal government would decline it.
However, the city also wants the remaining money left in the infrastructure fund, which is just over $203 million, to continue to be used for transit infrastructure.
That's where the Progressive Conservative government has a problem.
Municipal Relations Minister Rochelle Squires and Central Services Minister Reg Helwer wrote to Mayor Brian Bowman at the end of November on the funding.
In effect, they told city to use the remaining funds for green infrastructure projects (such as $1.8-billion in needed sewage treatment plant upgrades) or lose it to other projects outside the city.
Federal funding cannot flow directly to a municipality, but must pass through a provincial government before reaching city coffers.
The province says the city hasn't finished its Transit Master Plan and doesn't have any identifiable projects that would be ready to go under the federal guidelines — so the city can use the money elsewhere, or lose it.
"We need a master plan on transit before we can even see an application [to the infrastructure fund]. That master plan is still months away from even being conceptualized," Squires told CBC News on Thursday.
The Transit Master Plan is not expected to be completed until March 2021. Bowman says the delay is in part because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Squires says the timeline on the federal funding expires next December, and without a specific transit project to fund, there is a risk the money would be lost entirely.
"Is … [Bowman] wanting to just let it lapse? Does he want to look at options on how to ensure that this allocation is utilized in the next 12 months?" Squires said.
"Or does he want to transfer it over to … agencies on shovel-ready projects that don't have a funding source?"
Earmarked for transit: Bowman
The province's stand on the funding from Ottawa did not sit well with Bowman.
"We don't want to see that money stolen and used elsewhere outside the city of Winnipeg," the mayor said during a break from a city council meeting.
"It is earmarked for Winnipeg Transit. Transit is incredibly important to Winnipeggers and to the future of our city."
Bowman has written to both Squires and federal Minister of Infrastructure and Communities Catherine McKenna, asking for written confirmation that transit is still the focus of the unused funds.
He's also asked for confirmation the city has the authority to approve any reallocation of the money to other projects, such as green infrastructure.
"That's what the federal government has indicated. And that's what I believe we all want to see, is transit receive that support as well as matching funds, ultimately, from the province and support from the City of Winnipeg," Bowman said.