Aggregates and Roadbuilding July/August 2010 : Page 12Cover Story ABOVE: The loss of stimulus funding could put a serious dent in key road projects like this one, says Chris Lorenc, president of the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association. “Canada needs a long-term infrastructure plan,” he contends. (Photo courtesy of Manitoba Heavy Construction Association) RIGHT: Moving the stimulus deadline past the March 11 deadline would keep more projects, like this city repaving project, moving, says Terry Willms, GM of Georgian Paving & Construction in Collingwood. “We believe the deadline is too tight. “I’d love to see it extended by a year; particularly because I don’t think private industry is going to bridge the gap and help us avoid a lag.” stability through better planning; and re-duce the peaks and valleys inherent to cur-rent infrastructure procurement practices.” Too soon to pull the plug? Clearly, there’s plenty of infrastructure work that can be done in Canada. The question is does the industry have the money to do it, es-pecially after March 2011 arrives. Here’s the problem: Ottawa’s stimulus spending, like oxygen administered to a very ill patient, helped stave off the most imme-diate effects of the recession. The danger is that removing it too soon could lead to the economy falling ill once again, with con-struction taking an extremely hard hit. “Prime Minister Harper said there’s no way his government could have fought the recession without municipalities building thousands of stimulus projects and match-ing federal funding dollar for dollar,” notes Hans Cunningham, who was named the Fed-12 / July-August 2010 / Aggregates & Roadbuilding eration of Canadian Municipalities president on May 31. Cunningham has a potential so-lution: “We need to put that partnership to work solving longer-term challenges, from homelessness to organized crime to the infrastructure deficit.” Chris Lorenc, president of the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association says a po-tential solution lies in the development of Publication List |
