September 13, 2016: As reported in The Mississauga News, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie is calling on the federal and provincial governments to provide municipalities greater say in the projects receiving federal infrastructure funding.

The Mayor attended a meeting of Federal and Provincial Infrastructure Ministers in Edmonton on September 7, 2016 where she made her plea.  “Municipal budgets were never designed for large capital spending projects. We are here to provide municipal services, not build new subway lines or LRTs,” said Mayor Crombie in an interview with The Mississauga News.

“Often when they have these spending programs, the projects have to be new and unfunded. It’s fine if it’s an inspirational project, but we have asset management plans and we know what needs to be funded, we know what requires updating and we’d like to work off that list,” said Mayor Crombie.  “Let’s fund our needs list, not our wants list.”

The Mississauga Board of Trade supports the equal and important input of local governments in infrastructure projects.  It is important to fund good projects that properly invest in infrastructure, not just the sexy ones.

“We applaud Mayor Crombie for speaking out on this and we agree with her that Mississauga must be fully consulted before projects are announced and go ahead,” said David Wojcik, President & CEO, Mississauga Board of Trade.