QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities
Canada's Infrastructure
April 25, 2023
Good afternoon, Minister LeBlanc. My question relates to the Chignecto Isthmus Climate Change Adaptation Project. Historically, the federal government paid 100% of the capital costs for dikes and dams in the Tantramar area under the 1948 Maritime Marshlands Rehabilitation Act.
The Parliament of Canada has the declaratory power such that the federal government will assume responsibility for works that are for the general advantage of Canada. This is a vital trade corridor and transportation link that benefits our national economy. The new Champlain Bridge, although located solely in Quebec, has been declared to be for the general advantage of Canada, and the federal government is paying 100% of the $4.2 billion cost of the bridge rather than 50%, and there are other examples.
The premiers of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia wrote to you on March 14 asking for the federal government to pay 100% of the cost of the Chignecto Isthmus project as part of the federal government’s constitutional obligations. As a fellow New Brunswicker and a key member of the federal cabinet, will you promote and support the premier’s request for 100% funding for the Chignecto Isthmus project?
Thank you for the question, Senator Quinn, and for the work you do in the Senate for our province. You’ve correctly identified this infrastructure project as a national priority. Some months ago, I began a conversation offering a 50% contribution, potentially through a disaster mitigation and adaptation fund at the Department of Infrastructure. It shouldn’t surprise you that the premiers came back and say we’d like 100%.
To your colleague’s question about federal-provincial jurisdictional issues, the provinces don’t hesitate to quickly send a bill to Ottawa. COVID has given them an opportunity to continue to expect the federal government — some of these provinces, by the way, including ours, criticize the Government of Canada for having a deficit, but at the same time they are running surpluses and continue to send us bills. I think we need to have some coherence in how we manage the fiscal realities of the Government of Canada and our provincial and territorial partners. These provincial governments benefit from huge surpluses at a time when the federal government is running multi‑billion-dollar deficits. I think a 50% contribution to what is also a municipal infrastructure challenge for the cities of Sackville, New Brunswick and Amherst, Nova Scotia, I am confident that we can recognize a way to do it.
I replied to the provinces that their example of the Confederation Bridge wasn’t a good one. But senator, I will look further into your declaratory power. I think that is an interesting angle, which I, frankly, hadn’t thought of. I will ask the Department of Justice to help me look into that.
