A new study suggests that Canada could fix its national highway with $17.5 billion.
But government officials in the West don’t expect that money to come soon.
“As provincial ministers we are not holding our breath. We have been lobbying the federal government for years and until they put it in a current budget we can’t count on anything,” said Alberta transportation minister Walter Paszkowski.
Paszkowski’s comments sound similar to those of transportation ministers from Saskatchewan and Manitoba, who say just because a new study is out, it doesn’t mean the federal government will rush in.
Read Also
VIDEO: Agritechnica Day 4: Robots and more robots, Nexat loves Canada and the trouble with tariffs
Agritechnica Day 4: Robots and more robots, Nexat loves Canada and the trouble with tariffs.
David Collenette, federal minister of transportation, has said little about the new federal-provincial National Highway Policy for Canada report. Last week he said Ottawa intends to spend money on the problem in the 2000 budget, but has set aside no new money for 1999.
An official in Collenette’s office said the federal department is planning a national highways strategy in which the provinces would share in the costs. The federal commitment could reach as much as $600 million per year over 10 to 15 years.
But Collenette’s office has not informed western transportation ministers and they assume that signals there is no immediate new money for roads west of Ontario.
The national highways report cites Western Canada as a major bottleneck in Canada’s coast-to-coast highways system.
Trans-Canada twinning
Alberta and Manitoba, while in need of upgrading, are in better shape than Saskatchewan and British Colombia, where hundreds of kilometres of two-lane Trans-Canada highway remain to be built, and thousands of kilometres of damaged roads need repair. The Trans-Canada in the rest of the country is virtually all four lanes.
The study states that Canadians would reap a $30 billion return over 25 years for the highway investment, including $22 billion saved in travel time, $5.8 billion in safety improvements, $2.9 billion in reduced vehicle operating costs and $1.3 billion in network benefits.
The investment reaps a $13 billion net profit and a further dividend to the state through taxation during and after construction, according to the report.
Glen Findlay, Manitoba’s minister in charge of highways, suggested if the federal government isn’t going to pay for the national highway system, it shouldn’t be allowed to tax it.
His office suggested Manitoba would not count on a national program until it heard first-hand from Collenette that money was committed.
Judy Bradley, Saskatchewan’s minister of transportation, said the federal government has allowed the rail system to be reduced, knowing it would damage the province’s highways. She isn’t placing bets on getting the money from Ottawa soon.
“I’ve got cautious optimism, but I’ll believe it when I see it. I haven’t heard anything from Mr Collenette and until we’ve (the provinces) all sat down at the table we won’t be counting on it.”
Canadian trucking companies have adapted to the poor state of the Trans-Canada highway system. Most move products headed to and from Vancouver via the United States rather than pass through the Canadian Rockies and over the Prairies.
