New data will be driving local efforts to shape key infrastructure projects in the Ottawa Valley and beyond.
The Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus, a non-profit organization advocating for 103 municipalities, including our own, has made five key recommendations to the federal and provincial governments in this year’s Municipal Infrastructure Policy Paper.
The paper is designed to support policy and program advocacy across Eastern Ontario, as well as applications for government funding and future partnerships that will help enable the region’s prosperity and housing for all.
Among the recommendations made is the need for predictable, non-competitive, permanent funding streams in order to address a growing infrastructure deficit that Renfrew County Warden Peter Emon says has become an “impossible challenge” for rural taxpayers.
Emon, who is also the Caucus’ Chairperson, adds that “investing in infrastructure is not just about building roads and bridges; it’s about laying the foundation for economic growth and ensuring a high quality of life for all people across Eastern Ontario.”
He also notes that they cannot do it alone, and they are looking forward to “finding solutions with our Ontario and Federal Government partners to address the growing infrastructure deficit to support our region’s growing communities.”
Other recommendations made include a call for the federal and provincial governments to ensure rural communities are actually eligible for infrastructure funding, integrating housing investments alongside institutional, commercial, and industrial land uses, reevaluating debt financing options for small municipalities with limited resources, and working with the provincial Financial Accountability Office to ensure missing and incomplete data that would make local reports on infrastructure more robust is made available.
Find the full report on the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus’ website.
(Written by Kasey Egan)
