I was pleased to visit North Algona Wilberforce to deliver $606,239 in funding from the Federal Investing in Canada program. The funds will be put towards the rehabilitation of 3.9 kilometers of Letts Cemetery Road.
The repairs necessary to Letts Cemetery Road off Highway 41 to Eganville were so urgent that they had to be started last year, despite the lack of funding available from the Federal Government.
Thankfully, this funding coming through means that at least a smaller portion of the project is covered by Federal funds.
The project will rehabilitate approximately 3.9 kilometres of Letts Cemetery Road. Work will include road base improvements, replacement of cross culverts and asphalt, and installation of a paved shoulder.
The paved shoulders will also make the road safer for the avid cyclists, who use the road as part of their biking circuit.
This project was part of ten infrastructure projects in Eastern Ontario funding through the Investing in Rural and Northern Communities Infrastructure stream of the Federal Investing in Canada program. Of these ten projects, five are located in Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke.
Maintaining infrastructure is expensive for rural and remote municipalities. The challenge is a sparse population, spread out over a large area. Significant infrastructure is necessary to maintain, with a smaller tax base with which to fund repairs.
That is why the previous Conservative Federal Government expanded and made the gas-tax infrastructure fund permanent. In 2014 it created the Building Canada Fund, which the Investing in Canada program is funded through.
These investments helped give all municipalities access to a stable and predictable source of infrastructure funding, and periodic extra funding for emergency or shovel-ready projects.
Pictured Left to Right: Perry Ashick – Public Works Operations Co-ordinator, James Brose – Mayor, North Algona Wilberforce Township, MP Cheryl Gallant, Andrew Sprunt – CAO / Operations Manager