Whitehorse Daily Star

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WORKS PLANNED – Community Services Minister Currie Dixon (left) and Yukon MP Larry Bagnell are seen at this morning’s news conference announcing the project funding.

More details emerge on projects’ funding

The federal government will supply the Yukon with up to $58.59 million to repair and improve 17 pieces of infrastructure in the territory.

By Sidney Cohen on July 26, 2016

The federal government will supply the Yukon with up to $58.59 million to repair and improve 17 pieces of infrastructure in the territory.

This money will be combined with an investment from the Yukon government of about $19.4 million, and will bring the total budget for all 17 projects up to $78 million.

Yukon MP Larry Bagnell and Community Services Minister Currie Dixon announced the joint funding commitment in the lobby of the Yukon Government Administration Building this morning.

“One of the big priorities for us was infrastructure, basically to put people back to work,” said Bagnell.

He said it was important to him that rural Yukon not be left out when setting goals to improve and expand infrastructure on a national scale.

Dixon added that “We couldn’t have done what we are doing without the strong partnership we have with the Government of Canada.”

This new parcel of federal money comes out the Small Communities Fund, a pot of $1 billion set aside for projects in communities with fewer than 100,000 residents.

With a total population of about 37,642, according to the most recent count by the Yukon Bureau of Statistics, every municipality in the Yukon qualifies for investments out of this fund.

The 17 projects announced today will go toward improving roads, bridges, water and wastewater treatment across the territory.

Whitehorse, Dawson City, Watson Lake, Teslin, Mayo, Carcross, Carmacks, Haines Junction, Burwash Landing and Faro will all see infrastructure repairs or upgrades in or near their communities.

Many of these projects have already been announced and some of the money for them is identified out of the 2016-17 territorial budget, such as $1.5 million for the Nares River Bridge.

The funding arrangement calls for a 75 per cent contribution from the federal government and a 25 per cent contribution from the Yukon government.

“These projects aren’t the sexiest types of projects,” Dixon told the crowd of municipal officials, chiefs, and government staff representing communities around the territory.

“These are wastewater, drinking water projects, these are bridge refurbishments, but they’re very important. They’re critical not only for our economy, but for our quality of life in the Yukon communities.”

An estimated $16.9 million will go toward a “major rehabilitation” of the Nisutlin Bay Bridge, said Dixon. This is the biggest ticket item on the list.

About $12.8 million will go toward replacing the Nares River Bridge near Carcross, a project previously announced. This is expected to be the next costliest project of the 17 announced today.

Dawson will get an additional $268,200 for “functional planning that will lead to the eventual paving” of its airport landing strip, confirmed Community Services spokesperson Bonnie Venton Ross.

When the paving – a project talked about for years – will begin has yet to be determined.

The Fox Creek Bridge north of Whitehorse will be replaced to the tune of about $4.7 million and the Mayo River Bridge will be refurbished for an estimated $517,324.

Mayo will also get two new water reservoir tanks, which will improve water treatment and cost an estimated $4.66 million.

In Whitehorse, Sixth Avenue between Jarvis and Ogilvie streets will get upgrades to water and wastewater lines for an estimated $3.8 million.

The Department of Highways and Public Works will take charge over improvements to intersections and passing lanes on the Whitehorse portion of the Alaska Highway.

A little over $1.9 million is being spent on pavement overlay and widening the shoulder of the Klondike Highway in Whitehorse.

There will also be $10.4 million in repairs to two sections totalling 17 km of the Robert Campbell Highway near Watson Lake.

About $1.3 million will go toward fixing up parts of the Dempster and Alaska Highways.

Burwash Landing will get a new water treatment plant and truck fill point worth about $5.1 million and Haines Junction will get its wastewater lift station replaced, which will come in at an estimated $3.1 million.

Teslin will get a new connector road near its airport, which will cost an estimated $2.2 million.

Faro will get about $1.66 million for upgrades and repairs to its sewage lagoon and manhole covers.

The Small Communities Fund comprises $1 billion of the $10-billion New Building Canada Fund, with the other $9 billion allocated for medium- and large-scale projects that will have regional or national significance.

The Small Communities Fund, which exists to fund smaller-scale local projects, allows provinces and territories to identify their own infrastructure needs and make proposals for funding to the federal government.

To be approved for funding, a project must grow the local economy, strengthen the community, and work toward a cleaner environment.

“Strategic projects in infrastructure will allow us to build strong, sustainable and inclusive communities, as well as create long-term prosperity and most important, put Yukoners back to work,” said Bagnell.

Back in March, Bagnell and Dixon stood at the same spot in the legislature and announced that five infrastructure projects would benefit from nearly $6 million in joint federal-territorial funding through the New Building Canada Fund.

Those projects included groundwater protection and road work in Whitehorse, improvements to solid waste facilities in Faro, Watson Lake and Haines Junction, and sewage system upgrades in Carmacks.

Shortly after these projects were announced, Dixon said, he was informed by Amarjeet Sohi, the federal minister of Infrastructure and Communities, that the Yukon’s entire infrastructure funding allocation would now come out of the Small Communities Fund.

That means the territorial government will no longer need to pitch the regional or national significance of infrastructure projects in the Yukon in order to access federal infrastructure dollars.

This was “a very welcome development,” said Dixon.

“That means a significant improvement in the application and approval timelines and will certainly allow us to move in a much more expeditious fashion to get projects submitted, approved, and ultimately get shovels in the ground here in Yukon.”

Dixon noted that 18 infrastructure projects have begun or will begin this summer, and that eight of those will be managed by the Department of Highways and Public Works.

Comments (3)

Up 3 Down 7

SAndy where is the funding to pave Dawson airport on Jul 27, 2016 at 12:57 pm

You indicated you have the power to influence Ottawa on funding.
Dawson airport and a rec-plex for Dawson were at the top of your priorities.
What happened, with all that flood of money coming in as you stated in the house back in May just before you abandoned the house for a liberal conventional.So your priorities are liberal meetings over the Yukon public business, infrastructure investments in airports and rec-plex.
Please explain this bad judgement on your part to Yukoners and especially in Dawson?
Second why did you defend the Federal cuts to the Yukon funding by over $250 million dollars and not do the right thing and say this is wrong?

Up 4 Down 8

YukonMax on Jul 27, 2016 at 11:15 am

Faro CAO had announced that the Campbell Blvd. would be resurfaced. That is the Town's main street. I did not see anything in that regard in this article. Did Faro get the lip service again, as usual?

Up 11 Down 6

Bud McGee on Jul 26, 2016 at 5:26 pm

Great! Now we've advertised all our "estimates" to the contracting community. I am sure the estimates are pretty conservative, and now that we put that out there, pretty sure we'll get inflated bids. Way to go Government!

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