Provinces call on Ottawa to boost infrastructure spending

Provincial finance ministers are calling on the federal government to borrow billions of dollars to ramp up its spending on public infrastructure like roads, bridges and transit, saying the Conservatives' spending on capital projects is woefully inadequate.

Federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver, for his part, used a meeting Monday of federal, provincial and territorial finance ministers in Ottawa to announce the government is boosting health, social and equalization transfers to the provinces by $3 billion in 2015-16, including an extra $1.25 billion to Ontario.

But provinces are hungry for more dollars to spend on badly needed infrastructure. Provincial finance ministers made a pitch for the government to loosen some of the restrictions on how infrastructure dollars can be spent.

Oliver was non-committal. Instead, he used the opportunity to again call on the provinces to follow the federal government's lead and get their fiscal houses in order.

The federal government is promising to eliminate the deficit and balance the books in 2015, just in time for a federal election. Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa said borrowing the dollars over the long term for capital spending wouldn't sink the federal government deeper into an operating deficit.

Sousa wants the federal government to work with the provinces on a national infrastructure strategy, and is calling on the Conservatives to match the province's $1-billion commitment to the Ring of Fire mineral belt in Northern Ontario.

Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba made a presentation to Oliver and other finance ministers on the value of investing in public infrastructure and the benefits for the national economy.

Quebec's Carlos Leitao said ministers specifically discussed the importance of federal spending on transportation projects. He is hoping the provinces can work with the federal government to get greater flexibility in accessing the cash, but also get additional dollars for projects.

"I don't think that spending in infrastructure is in the same category or the same nature as spending for current programs. I think it makes sense for a government to borrow to build a bridge, or to build a highway, or to build a tunnel," Leitao said. "The federal government has the capacity to do so."

The federal government's $70-billion-plus in planned infrastructure spending over the next decade includes its $53-billion New Building Canada Plan, but there are restrictions on how the dollars can be spent.

Within that plan is a $14-billion Building Canada Fund, which includes $4 billion that supports projects of "national significance" and a $10-billion provincial-territorial component supporting projects of "national, regional and local significance."