City hopes for more gas revenue in federal budget

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This article was published 19/04/2021 (1952 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mayor Brian Bowman is asking the federal government to permanently double the annual gas tax revenue it provides to cities.

The request is one of three key commitments the mayor hopes to see in today’s federal budget.

“We’d love to see that made permanent. The reason this is important is the (funding) with the gas tax (goes) straight to municipalities,” said Bowman.

In a recent column, federal cabinet minister Dan Vandal wrote that a one-time doubling of the gas tax this year will raise Winnipeg’s share of the funding to more than $88 million.

“It is significant… It would be nice just to see that (made) permanent and then we could budget accordingly,” said Bowman.

The mayor said such funding is ideal because it isn’t at risk of delays like some tri-government funding requests, where the city must wait for other governments to review a deal before it is finalized.

“Money that does go straight to municipalities for their intended purpose would prevent provincial governments from really aggravating the efforts to get those federal dollars delivered in our community,” said Bowman.

Specifically, Bowman accuses the Manitoba government of dragging its feet on a partnership between the city, province and Ottawa to complete the first two phases of the $1.8-billion north end sewage treatment plant upgrade. The city applied for that funding in October 2019.

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The province has argued it’s completing due diligence on the file, not delaying it.

The mayor is also urging the federal government to ensure municipalities have a say in a national COVID-19 recovery plan and to provide Winnipeg with additional housing supports.

“This (housing funding) may be a way to ensure that the recovery involves everybody in our community and helps build needed infrastructure in the process,” he said.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga

Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter

Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.

Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.