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Speak Up

After some very public venting, federal and provincial politicians have announced an agreement to increase funding for post-secondary education. It's good news for colleges and universities, and better news if it signals a change in the tone of relations between Ottawa and Fredericton.

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New Brunswickers were beginning to wonder whether officials could see eye-to-eye on public priorities. It's reassuring to see that they can. Having resolved the dispute over PSE funding, ministers need to get behind other priority issues, such as the development of an Atlantic Gateway and community water treatment projects.

The future of Gateway funding has been up in the air since federal minister Peter MacKay rolled out a series of investments in Nova Scotia. The story took a new turn last week, when federal Conservatives announced that New Brunswick had already been offered $87.5 million in Gateway funds to help twin Route 1 between Saint John and St. Stephen. Last September, when the highway deal was announced, both governments stated that the federal contribution would come from the Building Canada fund.

New Brunswickers don't really care which fund the money comes from, provided there's enough to rebuild Route 1 and invest in other transportation projects. Since both levels of government seem to agree that more money is available, they need to rank possible Gateway projects in importance, based on the likely return on investment.

Striking a joint agreement to pay for water treatment should not be an ordeal, either. In the case of Saint John, both governments have expressed their support for clean water in principle, and the city has applied for help with six preliminary engineering projects worth about $24 million.

The city will soon have an independent estimate of how the water treatment network should be designed, and at what cost. With that report in hand, council will be in a better position to ask politicians for a firm financial commitment over the full construction period.

There's an opportunity here for federal and provincial politicians to earn some political capital. All they need to do is stop playing at political one-upmanship, and fund the priorities the public has identified.