Gerard Kennedy

Stimulus rules imposing spending deadlines put city taxpayers at risk: Liberals

Published Monday April 19th, 2010
By Heather Scoffield

OTTAWA – The federal Liberals say the government needs to show some flexibility in the timing of its stimulus funds, or risk inflicting municipal taxpayers with shoddy projects and higher tax bills.

Infrastructure critic Gerard Kennedy says municipal governments and construction firms are already telling him about rising costs and mounting angst linked to Ottawa’s deadline to spend stimulus money by next March.

The federal Conservatives have said repeatedly that the billions of dollars dedicated to the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund and other stimulus programs will stop cold on March 31, 2011.

But Kennedy says some municipalities won’t be able to finish their projects by then, for a variety of reasons — permits, unforeseen weather, delays in funding from other levels of government.

He has persuaded the House of Commons transport committee to hold hearings about the March deadline, and hopes to persuade Transport Minister John Baird to show some flexibility.

The fear is that the projects won’t be finished by the time the federal funding comes to a halt, and contractors will be held responsible for the extra costs of finishing the projects.

“It would be better to try and fix it. I hope we can generate enough constructive pressure,” Kennedy said in an interview.

Time is already a problem.

The Canadian Construction Association has posted a “cautionary note” to contractors, telling them to read the fine print of all stimulus projects tendered, The Canadian Press reported on the weekend.

The tendering season for the bulk of the stimulus projects is right now. Some contractors have already started raising their prices to reflect such a risk.

So it’s incumbent on the federal government to show flexibility right now too, Kennedy said.

“Taxpayers and communities are at risk by this mismanagement. And at least the government should not be afraid of giving municipalities and others a hearing to get the best result possible,” he said.

“If it doesn’t, it will just hone another series of huge mistakes and foul-ups when it comes to infrastructure projects and stimulus.”

The Conservative government has said repeatedly that it will not be flexible on the expiry date of the stimulus spending.

Municipalities had to sign agreements that they could finish their projects by the deadline, and so the Conservatives say they should not be responsible for cities not living up to their commitments.

Plus, the government’s plan to eradicate the deficit depends on ending the stimulus funding next year.

Should someone be imprisoned for sharing the views of most Canadians on the Iraq War? That is the question being posed in part by my Bill C-440, soon to be considered at second reading in the House of Commons.

Parliament has voted twice to let Iraq war resisters from the United States stay in Canada. Now the Federal Court of Appeal has added its voice to the debate.

According to a schedule fixed by Ottawa, federal stimulus funding for municipal infrastructure works is to disappear in less than eight months

The federal Liberal infrastructure critic says a new report on the stimulus program proves the Conservative government, not Canadian municipalities, is to blame for a delay that will leave many projects unfinished by March 31.