The agreement signed today for the Investing in Canada Plan is better for New Brunswick’s communities because municipalities were involved, says UMNB President Mr. Bev Gaston. The Plan will provide over $673 million in infrastructure funding for New Brunswick over 10 years, and the Union of the Municipalities of New Brunswick (UMNB) worked to ensure the priorities of municipalities were reflected in the agreement
“Municipalities provide the essential infrastructure that people depend on in our communities, and long-term funding like the Investing in Canada Plan helps them afford it,” Mr. Gaston said.
“We know that to get shovels in the ground, the funding agreement has to make sense. Work can’t start if the projects a community needs are sidelined by narrow or cookie-cutter eligibility criteria, or if costs like planning can’t be supported – making important projects unaffordable for cash-strapped communities.
That’s why it was essential that municipalities be consulted. UMNB worked to ensure our members’ priorities were heard, and we’ll keep working now that the agreement has been signed.”
The Investing in Canada Plan is a 12-year, $180+ billion national infrastructure funding plan. The Governments of Canada and New Brunswick signed an integrated bilateral agreement (IBA) on March 15, 2018 to implement Phase II of the Plan.
Click here to read the Canada-New Brunswick integrated bilateral agreement.
UMNB represents 60 member municipalities and rural communities in New Brunswick. UMNB advocates on behalf of its members with the goal of building strong, sustainable and viable municipalities and rural communities throughout our province.