The Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference was held in Winnipeg this past weekend and Lethbridge mayor Chris Spearman was one of 1,500 municipal leaders in attendance.
Spearman said the best part of the conference was meeting with other municipal leaders to learn about successful projects in other communities.
“Things like waste and recycling. What are they doing with waste and recycling? What sort of new infrastructure initiatives are being done in other communities? Are there practical applications for those types of things,” Spearman said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was one of the keynote speakers at the conference and Spearman said it’s encouraging to hear him speak about federal infrastructure funds, but stressed the money needs to reach smaller cities like Lethbridge.
The federal government has announced $700 million specifically for Alberta, to help the province through the downturn in oil prices, but there are questions as to when that money will be available.
“One of the interesting things was the $700 million allocated to Alberta. The feds said they only allocate to provinces that sign an agreement , but Alberta has not signed an agreement so those funds are frozen,” he said.
While the mayor didn’t get positive information on when Federal infrastructure might be coming through, he says these types of conferences are still important.
“The conference is well worth attending . You can’t put a price tag on the ability to network with your colleagues and learn from them. We don’t have all the answers in Lethbridge.”
Spearman said he still has a lot of questions when it comes to infrastructure funding in this area.