Province spends $14M to addresss infrastructure gaps in northwestern Ontario

The City of Thunder Bay is receiving a $10-million funding boost from the province to help curb its $30-million infrastructure gap.

Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Kevin Holland made the announcement on Thursday at his office in the northwestern Ontario city alongside Mayor Ken Boshcoff.

The money, which comes from the province's Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund, is aimed at helping smaller municipalities renew and rehabilitate critical infrastructure, including roads, bridges, water and wastewater.

The money earmarked for municipalities has been doubled for the next five years and will be delivered in time for budget talks in early 2024, said Holland.

It's up to municipalities to decide how to spend the funds, but they do have the option to accumulate it for up to five years to help them pay for major infrastructure projects down the line.

"I think this is a symptom of inadequate funding in the past," Holland said of the infrastructure gap. "We've taken the steps to address that inadequate funding by doubling this program for member municipalities, something that had quite frankly been asked for for a number of years by communities across all of Ontario, but in particular with northwestern Ontario."

In the spring, city staff identified a list of 25 priority infrastructure projects, which if completed, could see the shortfall increase to $40 million. Among its top priorities are improvements to the Centennial Botanical Conservatory, transit hubs, facility upgrades in preparation of the Ontario 2024 Winter Games, and the demolition of the Victoriaville Centre.

Meanwhile, the city is eyeing ambitious housing targets and is seeking federal funds to help incentivize the development of 2,100 new units in the next three years.

Boshcoff said he appreciates any funding from the province to help the city prepare for upcoming growth.

"We're deeply grateful because it will allow us to expand those visions and that infrastructure that we haven't really paid much attention to over the last little while," Boshcoff said.

"That will be the catch-up so that we can get ahead of the mining boom so that as the people come here with their families, we're going to be able to provide housing for them as well as the existing community that needs to expand."

When asked about the labour force needed to get these projects off the ground, Boshcoff praised the province's support for Confederation College's trades programs but acknowledged the challenge of keeping apprentices in the city.

"It's a matter of us being able to recruit a stable workforce who will stay here and take up those vital professions because without trades, water doesn't run," he said.

In addition to the $10 million for Thunder Bay, smaller municipalities in the region are getting $4 million from the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund. A breakdown of the funding is as follows: