Quebec a loser in stimulus sweepstakes: CP analysis

OTTAWA - Stimulus money earmarked for Quebec is only trickling down to communities in the province, while other provinces are awash in federal funds, an analysis by The Canadian Press shows.

Haggling among three levels of government has dramatically slowed the flow of construction and jobs, prompting municipal leaders to ask for an extension of the two-year deadline set by Ottawa.

"We're wasting time," said Bernard Genereux, the president of the Federation of Quebec Municipalities and mayor of St-Prime, QC. "It's punishing municipalities. It's preventing us from getting to work. We're losing the first year of the program."

Pressure is now mounting on the federal government to relax its two-year limit on much of the stimulus spending.

Grumbling from municipalities is growing louder. The Parliamentary Budget Officer validated the case for an extension last week, saying the two-year limit is causing a rush to build infrastructure, possibly forcing cities to make hasty decisions, and prompting construction prices to soar.

Since Ottawa announced its multi-billion-dollar stimulus program last January, the federal government has showered every corner of the country with money, funding thousands of projects.

In order to figure out how that money is being distributed countrywide, The Canadian Press developed a computer program to work with the government's only public national picture of all the stimulus programs: the interactive map at www.actionplan.gc.ca/eng/map.asp that displays Ottawa's individual budget announcements.

By taking the data that supports that map, the analysis was able to count, locate and evaluate 4,833 projects that have been announced coast-to-coast. Far fewer than 10 per cent of those projects are in Quebec, Canada's second most populous province.

Of the 4,833 projects published on the government's centrepiece map as of Oct. 25, less than 300 are in Quebec. Ontario claims more than 2,500, while Alberta and British Columbia both have more than 300 each.

The Privy Council Office that runs the map database could not guarantee that 100 per cent of the federal government's announced projects in Quebec had been plotted on the map. But officials at both the municipal and federal levels were quick to recognize that stimulus has been slow to get off the ground in the province.

"There have been lots of announcements, but the work seems more and more problematic," said Genereux. "We've taken so much time to finalize agreements."

The lethargy is not because Ottawa is being stingy with its money. The federal programs are designed to make sure each province gets its fair share. Under the $4-billion Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, for example, Quebec has been allotted almost $1 billion in federal funding.

The allotment created some excitement in the province last spring. Ottawa agreed to let Quebec set up its own water pipeline renewal program with the money in a novel program designed to get the money to municipalities quickly. It's a flexibility not seen in arrangements in other provinces, where Ottawa has had more of a say in how the money should be spent.

But only 30 per cent of that water pipeline program, known as PRECO, has been allocated to specific projects even though the program was set up last March.

The delay has different levels of government pointing fingers at each other, all while insisting they get along just fine. Most of the federal stimulus money requires agreement and matching funds from between the provincial and municipal governments. Several broad agreements have been announced in principle, but individual projects are not getting the go-ahead quickly.

For municipal leaders, the hold-up is a power struggle between Ottawa and Quebec City. The provincial government doesn't want the federal government meddling too much in municipal affairs, which are a provincial responsibility, said Genereux.

Analysts at the Union of Quebec Municipalities see cities struggling to design projects that match the differing priorities of the federal and provincial governments.

"Each one has its conditions," said policy co-ordinator Jasmin Savard.

Both the Union of Quebec Municipalities and the Federation of Quebec Municipalities want Ottawa to give cities more than the stated two years to spend all the federal stimulus money.

"We don't want to be penalized at the end of two years" just because the program was slow to get off the ground, said Savard.

But the federal government is eyeing the municipalities themselves. The municipal elections held across the province on Sunday and policy work slowed well in advance of the election campaigns, federal sources say.

"This year, there are municipal campaigns across Quebec, and election campaigns cause delays," said Chris Day, spokesman for Transport Minister John Baird.

"We are determined to ramp up activity after the election."

There are also two federal by-election campaigns underway in the province, one in Montreal and the other in the area around Riviere-du-Loup.

As for the provincial government, officials say they're content with the progress to date.

"We have made lots of announcements," said Genevieve Villemure-Denis, spokeswoman for the Quebec Treasury Board. "It's a good example of co-operation between the two provinces."