RMA has submitted a pre-budget response to the Government of Canada ahead of Budget 2024 deliberations
The House Finance Committee for the Government of Canada recently put out a call for Canadians to convey their priorities for the forthcoming federal budget. The RMA’s submission highlighted four key themes:
- Rural Connectivity
- Resilient Rural Communities
- Support for Rural Infrastructure
- RCMP Retroactive Pay
Each theme included several action items, such as:
- Maintain commitment to fully fund the Universal Broadband Fund over the next several years.
- Ensure that broadband funding programs are designed in a way that addresses the urban-rural digital divide, acknowledging that rural areas are underfunded and underserved and will need a dedicated funding stream.
- Commit to developing a new component of the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund that provides funding strictly for rural communities and utilizes a much lower project expenditure threshold and higher federal cost-share contribution that will help empower local leaders in communities of all types to adapt to climate change.
- Develop an infrastructure fund that uses a rural definition more aligned with rural populations to reduce the competition for major grant funding.
- Absorb all costs associated with the implementation of RCMP retroactive pay and ensure that municipalities are consulted on measures that will impact local fiscal sustainability and the ability to maintain policing service levels.
- Ensure that all future contract negotiations involve the provinces in the process as contract holders.
Karrina Jung
Policy Advisor
780.955.4085
karrina@RMAlberta.com
Wyatt Skovron
Manager of Policy & Advocacy
780.955.4096
wyatt@RMAlberta.com