City of Prince Rupert receives reply related to correspondence to Federal Government on Infrastructure concerns

Federal Cabinet Minister
Dominic LeBlanc has forwarded
a reply to a City of Prince 
Rupert correspondence  November 
on infrastructure issues
(image from Gov't of Canada)

A sympathetic ear to its plight, but no indication of any special funding to come from Federal sources seems to be the main narrative to a correspondence received a City Hall last week from a Federal Cabinet Minister.

In a letter  From March 1st, that is included in the Agenda Package for tonight's Prince Rupert City Council Session, Dominic LeBlanc, the Federal Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities provides a response to a letter forwarded to Transport Minister Omar Alghabra back in November.

That letter was one of many directed to Federal and Provincial officials prior to and during the December Local State of Emergency related to the city's waterline issues at the time.

The correspondence from Mr. Leblanc offers the sympathy of the Minister to the City's residents when it comes to its current infrastructure challenges and then directs the City towards a few other departments which manage the Federal Assistance process. 

The Federal Minister also encourages Mayor Pond and the City to continue to explore potential funding options through the province.

Mr. Leblanc also makes note of the recently announced Provincial  Growing Communities Fund observing how it may be an option for the municipality.

That was a timely bit of observation from the Federal Government, as we noted on Friday North Coast MLA Jennifer provided some welcome news towards that fund, outlining the amount of money that a number of communities will be receiving.

With Prince Rupert to receive just over 4 million dollars from the 1 Billion dollar Provincial fund.

click to enlarge

The letter is part of tonight's Consent Agenda, which means that Council has the option to discuss the letter or just file it away as received.

You can review some of the City's challenges, as well as some of their success in accessing funding when it comes to Infrastructure from our archive page here.

More notes on tonight's Council Session can be reviewed here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.