UPDATED: Alberta government opens applications for infrastructure grant for growing communities

The Alberta government has opened applications for the Local Growth and Sustainability Grant (LGSG) to what it says will help relieve pressure on public infrastructure in the province’s fastest-growing municipalities. Many of Alberta’s cities and towns are experiencing population growth, which increases the demand on public infrastructure needs such as roads, bridges, and water treatment systems. In response, the Alberta government said it has introduced the LGSG to provide $60 million over three years to help municipalities experiencing population growth-related pressures on public infrastructure. “We have heard clearly from our municipal partners that population growth and expanding industrial and commercial activity, though good for local economies, are also putting significant pressure on public infrastructure in some Alberta communities,” said Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver in a Tuesday press release. “The LGSG is designed to bring some relief to recent growth pressures, while attracting new investment that provides jobs for Albertans and helps to keep our provincial economy thriving.”To complement the Alberta government’s other existing infrastructure programs, it said the LGSG is an application-based program that will be open to municipalities experiencing significant growth and related infrastructure pressures. It added it has two components to it. The growth component is about $15 million for 2024-2025 and is meant to help mid-sized communities with populations between 10,000 and 200,000 people meet growth-related infrastructure needs such as highways. Meanwhile, the sustainability component is about $5 million for 2024-2025 and is meant to help smaller communities with populations fewer than 10,000 people address major health or safety issues such as water treatment.“Our province is growing, and I am proud to see Alberta’s government make yet another investment to create jobs, improve our communities, and grow our local economy,” said Alberta United Conservative Party MLA Nathan Neudorf (Lethbridge-East). Lethbridge Mayor Blaine Hyggen said like many Alberta municipalities, the city is experiencing growth pressures. “The Local Growth and Sustainability Grant offers essential funding opportunities for our priority projects, such as expanding the Wastewater Treatment Plant and enhancing efforts to recruit more healthcare workers,” said Hyggen.“We are grateful to the province for introducing this new funding stream, and we look forward to submitting competitive proposals that ensure a sustainable and healthy community for our residents.”Applications for the LGSG are now open and close on November 29. McIver followed up by saying while he did not want to pick a fight with the Canadian government, its immigration numbers have increased dramatically in the last two years and contributed to Alberta’s massive population growth. “We should all be pro-immigration, but immigration needs to be well-orchestrated, well-planned, well-executed, and there was not enough of that with the rapid growth that the federal government put in place,” said McIver. “They didn’t really anticipate the housing, the schools, the hospitals, the roads, the social services, everything that people need.” While population growth has skyrocketed, he said the Alberta government will work with the Canadian government to mitigate it. He pointed out the Canadian government carries some responsibility. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said in an exclusive interview on the Cory Morgan Show on the Western Standard in August she no longer wanted to increase population growth through higher immigration numbers and requested the Canadian government bring in a sensible immigration policy..EXCLUSIVE: Smith says feds’ immigration policy unsustainable .Some of the changes Smith said she wants to see are those former prime minister Stephen Harper instituted such as a point system for bringing people in, newcomers matching needs of the economy, and the number of them matching with housing. “And I think what we’re seeing is that especially in Alberta, we’re beginning to feel some of the pressure with that growth, and I think that’s what people are responding to,” said Smith.

UPDATED: Alberta government opens applications for infrastructure grant for growing communities

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