Building Canada Fund

The Building Canada Fund is a program where the Government of Canada will provide more than 840 million dollars toward infrastructure initiatives in Alberta. Of this amount, approximately 88 million dollars will be allocated to smaller-scale projects in communities of less than 100,000 residents. This amount will be matched by Alberta, for a total of 176 million dollars to be invested into the Communities Component. This fund addresses infrastructure priorities such as roads and highways, bridges, public transit, water and sewer systems, green energy and community initiatives. This funding is in addition to the amounts from the Gas Tax Fund and the Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund already being provided to Alberta. The program was full subsribed, and projects were funded in three rounds of announcements. The first round of projects was funded through previous Canada Alberta Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund applications. The second and third rounds of applications closed in March and were awarded, including an extra top-up brought forward the the Economic Stimulus Plan. The Federal Government announced in their 2009 Budget a $4 Billion Infrastructure Stimulus Fund to be spread across all provinces and municipalities. Funding agreements were announced over the course of the summer between municipalities, the province and the federal government. The AAMDC’s focus now turns to the upcoming budget announcments in spring. Announcements will determine if funding commitments will be maintained by the province.