City to reap more than $3 million in gas tax transfers

Under a federal-provincial agreement, the $920,031 payment includes a contribution from Quebec. In Ottawa's $33-billion Building Canada Plan, the gas tax refund will be providing municipalities across the country with $11.8 billion through 2014. The Conservative government's latest budget made the gas tax fund permanent at $2 billion per year.

According to a joint statement issued by the two governments, the 2005 Canada-Quebec Agreement set out to provide funding for the renewal of municipal and local infrastructure, and specifically for municipal drinking water, wastewater, local road systems and public transit, within a context of sustainable development.

The federal government is providing Quebec a total of $1.34 billion over five years, to which Quebec is adding $475.7 million, for a total of $1.8 billion. Including contributions from municipalities, $2.3 billion is going towards renewing municipal infrastructure. Of the $3.1 million Westmount will be receiving by the end of 2009, $2.2 million will be from Ottawa.

"Without this money, the work would (still) have to be done," said Fortier. "It would be the citizens of Westmount who would essentially have to pay every dollar, every cent necessary to do this work. So the contribution of Ottawa and of Quebec will allow Westmount residents, or the City, to avoid a loan bylaw, and for citizens to avoid a tax hike."

Westmount-St. Louis MNA Jacques Chagnon said he wasted no time in making sure the payment cheque was quickly delivered to the City.

"There wasn't a nano-second lost, so that the City could deposit its cheque and get some interest," he said, adding that the federal-provincial investment "will have a major impact on Quebec's municipalities."

In keeping with the agreement, Mayor Karin Marks said the City plans to use its share of the funds "to begin to deliver a better sewer and water network to those who live and work in our city."

She noted that last fall, when a local waterworks infrastructure intervention plan was completed, "it confirmed what we had already suspected — that the local water network is in need of major upgrading …"

Forty-two per cent of Westmount's 49 kilometres of water mains were installed prior to 1920, and there are still many from the 1890s. According to Marks, the overall rating given to the condition of Westmount's water system was 41 on 100 — "not a mark that any of us would appreciated in our academic endeavours.

To be considered in tip-top shape, a rating of 90 out of a hundred would be required."

Westmount's 57-kilometre sewer system fared a little better, with an overall rating of 70 on 100. However, more than 67 per cent of this system dates from prior to 1920.

"To achieve a target of 90 on 100 is a laudable goal, but one which will require a realistic timetable, probably of 20 years and funding," said Marks. "Obviously, this latter point is of considerable concern."

Fortier, an appointed member of the Senate, was named Minister Responsible for the Montreal Region by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, to compensate for a lack of elected Conservative members in Quebec. Since payments started to be made under the Canada-Quebec Agreement, he has been travelling to municipalities to make announcements like the one this week in Westmount.

Asked whether he hoped the attention generated by the transfer payments from the Conservatives would translate into increased voter support, Fortier replied, "I wouldn't be displeased." Then he added, "I don't want to be cynical about this — this money belongs to people from Westmount, basically.

"They pay taxes to Ottawa and this money's coming back to them to build needed infrastructure in their city. Tax dollars belong to Canadian taxpayers, and when they entrust governments to look after their money, they want it to be properly invested … Our decision to make this transfer permanent I think was wise."