Community Services Minister Elaine Taylor is in Ottawa this week to encourage federal funding for Yukon’s infrastructure projects.
She met with Denis Lebel, the federal minister responsible for infrastructure, yesterday.
The focus of their conversation was on the challenges of building infrastructure in the North.
“In the North it’s not only more difficult to construct because of the lay of the land, but it’s more costly to repair and more costly to operate, and especially the more remote the location, the more costly the project, obviously,” said Taylor.
The Building Canada Fund has provided federal funding for infrastructure projects across the country since 2007. It is set to expire in 2014.
A new national plan is expected to replace Building Canada in 2014, according to a Yukon government press release.
Taylor would like to see that plan reflect the Yukon’s particular infrastructure needs, she said.
That means employing a base-plus funding formula, rather than employing per capita funding. Each jurisdiction would get a base amount of funding, plus an additional amount per capita.
The details of the new funding arrangement have not yet been released.
The priority of the Yukon government in terms of infrastructure continues to be ensuring that all communities have adequate water and sewage facilities, said Taylor.
“Just because that program is set to expire in 2014 does not mean the priorities end.”
Canada and Yukon have jointly invested more than $244 million in infrastructure through the Building Canada Fund.