Funding Ottawa's millions also rolling in to recruit police officers, improve public transit

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

speakup

OTTAWA - New Brunswick's cabinet is expected to consider soon a proposal for spending the $30 million Ottawa is giving the province to respond to economic hardships in towns hit by mill closures, the Telegraph-Journal has learned.

The money had been announced in January when Prime Minister Stephen Harper joined Premier Shawn Graham in Tracyville, south of Fredericton, to unveil the Community Development Fund.

The fund makes $1 billion available to provinces and territories, which had agreed to spend it on job training, diversifying the economy and infrastructure.

Last week's provincial budget didn't reflect the money.

Instead, Finance Minister Victor Boudreau said the province was waiting for more details from Ottawa.

Both the prime minister's office and the premier's office say the technicalities are ironed out. The money will be available for the province to tap into in early April, said the premier's office.

New Brunswick intends to start using the money this year, but Boudreau's budget speech said this year's spending will be just the start of a multi-year strategy. The province has three years to use the money.

If the provincial government takes very long to decide how to use the money, it could be out of step with Liberal MPs from the province.

In January and February, they - and NDP MP Yvon Godin - were part of the opposition's push to have the federal government separate the legislation creating the fund from the budget.

The opposition clamoured to have the bill fast-tracked so the money could flow sooner to communities and workers - while also criticizing the amount New Brunswick was getting as too little.

New Brunswick has suffered mill closures in Miramichi, Bathurst and Dalhousie, among others. Last year, more than 2,000 forestry workers lost their jobs.

In other follow-ups to the federal budget, the New Brunswick government is about to get roughly $11 million from the federal government to spend on public transit, money that comes on the heels of $8.8 million to recruit more police officers.

Those amounts are New Brunswick's share of a $500-million public transit trust fund and a $400-million police recruiting fund, both announced in February's federal budget.

Under Ottawa's terms, the provinces had until March 31 to commit to using the money for its intended purposes.

Public Safety Minister John Foran told the legislature Wednesday he wants to use the $8.8 million for police officers to fight the drug trade.

Foran said he'll meet with a policing advisory committee, which includes representatives from the RCMP and of municipal police chiefs, on April 15 to determine how best to spend the money over the next five years.

Each province's amount for the police and public transit funds was based on population.

With 2.2 per cent of the country's population, the province gets one dollar in every 45 dollars when Ottawa doles out funding on a strictly per-capita basis.

For the community and worker relief fund, Ottawa gave each province a $10-million base, then topped it up based on population.

The transit money has to be spent within two years.

In federal budget documents, Ottawa "encouraged" provinces to report publicly on how they spend money from each of the funds and what outcomes they achieve.