Canada-Barrie partnership celebrates improvements to City Storm Water Systems

May 05, 2010

Barrie, Ontario - The City of Barrie is pleased to announce the completion of two storm water system projects thanks to more than $5.6 million from the Government of Canada’s Gas Tax Fund.

“I am pleased to join the City of Barrie to mark the completion of these projects. Our Government and the City have worked together in partnership to jointly invest in many infrastructure projects that will benefit residents of Barrie for years to come,” said Patrick Brown, Member of Parliament for Barrie.  “The Government of Canada has made infrastructure projects a priority to create jobs, boost our local economy, and revitalize infrastructure to meet the future needs of our communities.”

“These are two important projects for the City of Barrie. The support through the Federal Gas Tax Fund allows the City to address priority projects that might not have been possible otherwise,” says Barrie Mayor Dave Aspden.

The Bunkers Creek Storm Sewer, from Milligan’s Pond to Boy’s Street, is now substantially complete. This project benefitted from $4 million from the Gas Tax Fund to improve flow capacity will reduce flooding significantly. This is the first phase of the Bunker’s Creek North East branch storm sewer replacement.

The Kidd’s Creek Culvert on Simcoe Street, stretching from Bradford Street to Toronto Street, is now complete. The storm water component benefitted from $1.6 million from the Gas Tax Fund. This project removed contaminated soil from the site, improved the culvert flow capacity to reduce potential flooding, and renewed storm infrastructure that had reached the end of its life cycle.

“The federal Gas Tax Fund acknowledges that all orders of government must work together to address the pressing need for infrastructure investment in Ontario,” said Peter Hume, President of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO). “The funding is supporting thousands of important infrastructure projects and is critical to job creation, Ontario’s competiveness and environmental sustainability.”

Under Canada’s Economic Action Plan, the Government of Canada is allocating $12 billion to infrastructure projects across the country. This is further complemented by an earlier commitment of $33 billion to infrastructure under the Building Canada Plan. Between 2010 and 2014, the City of Barrie will receive $31.5 million from the Government of Canada’s Gas Tax Fund.