February 23, 2005

Local 183 official says Ontario must sell program’s merits to feds

Ottawa should offer low-cost infrastructure loans

By Grant Cameron

staff writer

The federal government should offer low-cost loans to promote renewal of municipal infrastructure similar to a program that’s being offered by the province, says Local 183 of the Universal Workers Union.

Andy Manahan, development promotion representative with Local 183, told the province’s Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs recently that Ontario must convince the feds of the merit of such a program.

In a verbal presentation to the committee, Manahan said loans are being made available through the Ontario Strategic Infrastructure Financing Authority (OSIFA) but the federal government has no such program.

“This would be a good way, with respect to the federal government’s initiatives on cities and communities, to help out smaller- to medium-sized municipalities because that’s who is primarily going to be using this pooled fund.”

This year alone, more than 100 cities, towns and regions are expected to use low-cost loans through the OSIFA program. The program helps municipalities finance investments in clean water and sewage infrastructure, municipal roads, bridges, waste management facilities, public transit, municipal long-term care homes and renewal of social housing.

Manahan said having a similar federal program in place would help municipalities deal with their infrastructure problems.

“Municipalities would be able to prioritize what projects they think are important. There would be some leeway.”

Manahan also spoke about the un- derground economy, mandatory insurance coverage, Highway 407 and the outlook for residential construction.

He said the joint venture between the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and Canada Revenue Agency to compare notes is a step forward in the effort to catch cheaters and he urged the province to continue working with the feds because tackling the problem will boost revenues for all concerned.

“Both levels of government would gain with respect to increased taxes.”

Manahan also told the committee that Local 183 supports the effort to have everybody on construction jobsites covered by insurance. Labour Minister Chris Bentley is expected to make an announcement soon on the issue.

Meanwhile, he said the province should drop its appeal objecting to the increase imposed by the consortium operating Highway 407 because it’s sending “a bad signal out to the international investment community.”

Manahan said the fight between government and the consortium is signaling that Ontario is not open to public-private partnerships.

“If they drop the appeal that would send out a better message that maybe Ontario is more receptive to public-private partnerships.”

While the committee didn’t comment on Highway 407, Public Infrastructure Renewal Minister David Caplan did say last week that he has no intention of backing down from the consortium.

As for the residential market, Manahan said Local 183 expects good times to continue throughout 2005 and 2006.

“Despite the fact a number of people have been predicting that the condominium market would slow down, we see that it’ll still be a pretty decent residential condo market for the next couple of years in terms of construction activity.”

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