ANTIGONISH: The Municipality of the County of Antigonish will apply for grants to help fund waterline extension projects, with the municipality’s top priority being St. Joseph’s.
If approved, the project, which will mostly be covered by outside funding, with come through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure (ICIP) Program.
During the municipality’s regular monthly council meeting on Feb. 8, CAO Glenn Horne advised local governments can apply for up to 73.33 per cent of the funding from the provincial and federal governments, while the county would be on the hook for a minimum of 26.67 per cent of the total cost.
“It was good to see the province open up applications for the ICIP program. We’re certainly going to put a couple projects on that list,” Warden Owen McCarron said. “One notable will be the St. Joseph’s water line extension, so that’s certainly top of mind and at the top of the priority list for the municipality.”
The warden explained senior staff will also look into a number of other projects they’re currently working on, and will come to a decision on another project for funding in the second round of applications.
“So likely two water line extensions is what we’ll put in for, and we’ll see where that goes,” McCarron said. “We haven’t landed on what the other one is going to be, we have several, we’re just looking at some final details on a couple, but we’ll know likely within a week or two, which will be the second one.”
The program provides long-term funding through Infrastructure Canada to help communities reduce air and water pollution, provide clean water, increase resilience to climate change and create a clean-growth economy. According to the program, it also aims to build strong, dynamic and inclusive communities, and ensure families have access to modern, reliable services that improve their quality of life.
Under the program, over $33-billion in funding is being delivered through bilateral agreements between Infrastructure Canada and each of the provinces and territories.
“In the perfect world, it would be nice to get funding for two,” McCarron said. “But certainly the top priority one right now for council is the St. Joseph’s line extension.”