Municipal Affairs
December 17, 2009

Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador Sign
$124 Million Gas Tax Fund Agreement Extension

The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defense and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway, along with the Honourable Tom Hedderson, Minister of Municipal Affairs (Acting), today announced that communities across Newfoundland and Labrador can now plan for their long-term infrastructure needs, thanks to more than $124 million from the federal Gas Tax Fund between 2010 and 2014. This funding is made possible by an extension to the Gas Tax agreement announced today by the Governments of Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador.

�Our government, under the leadership of Stephen Harper, is focused on strengthening local economies and creating jobs. We are doing this by working with our provincial colleagues to support municipalities directly in order to upgrade local infrastructure such as roads, water systems, municipal buildings and more,� said Minister MacKay. �We are cutting red tape and accelerating our Gas Tax transfers to get infrastructure projects underway quickly for communities that need it most.�

�Gas Tax Funds have provided important infrastructure investment to strengthen municipal services and support community sustainability,� said Minister Hedderson. �This extension provides additional funding to continue investment in water, wastewater, the Provincial Waste Management Strategy, community energy systems, and transportation infrastructure. Beginning in 2010, a modification to how gas tax funding can be used will allow municipalities to direct funding for the municipal share of cost-shared projects designed to improve the quality of water provided by municipal supplies and to improve wastewater systems. This move will allow municipalities to address water issues, and free up much-needed municipal funding for other priority areas.�

The Gas Tax Fund supports environmentally sustainable infrastructure projects that lead to cleaner air, cleaner water, or reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The Government of Canada will permanently extend the Gas Tax Fund beyond 2014 at $2 billion per year for municipalities across the country.

In April 2009, the Government of Canada accelerated the first Gas Tax Fund payment to all Canadian municipalities, allowing them to draw on gas tax funding three months earlier than previous years. Newfoundland and Labrador recently received its second payment of $16.45 million from the 2009-10 Gas Tax Fund allocation. The Gas Tax Fund complements the $12 billion in additional infrastructure funding in Canada�s Economic Action Plan, which is accelerating and expanding existing federal investments in infrastructure stimulus funding over the next two years.

For more information about joint federal and provincial infrastructure initiatives in Newfoundland and Labrador, visit www.creatingjobs.gc.ca or www.infc.gc.ca.

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2009 12 17                         10:50 a.m.