Nater, Pettapiece Congratulate West Perth on Henry St. Funding

For Immediate Release

Mitchell, ON – John Nater, Member of Parliament, for Perth–Wellington and Randy Pettapiece Member of Provincial Parliament for Perth—Wellington congratulate the Municipality of West Perth on their successful application for federal and provincial funding for the Henry Street Reconstruction Project in Mitchell through the Investing in Canada infrastructure plan.
This funding will allow the municipality to reconstruct approximately 610 metres of Henry Street, replace road granular and pavement, and add sidewalks, curbs and gutters.
The Government of Canada will provide $471,558 for the project while the Government of Ontario will contribute $314,057, with the Municipality of West Perth providing $157,500.
“The project will bring much-needed improvements to an important artery in the community’s road network. I am thankful my colleague, M.P.P. Randy Pettapiece and the Ontario government advocated on behalf of this project” said M.P. Nater. “Mayor Walter McKenzie, council and staff have worked diligently to make this project shovel-ready.”
“The approval of the Henry Street Reconstruction is great news for the residents of Mitchell and West Perth. Our government is focused on meeting important infrastructure needs in rural Ontario,” said M.P.P. Randy Pettapiece. “Locally, it was a team effort between all three levels of government to get this project approved. I want to thank Mayor McKenzie and M.P. John Nater for their advocacy on this project.”
“We are very pleased to receive word about our success in obtaining an Infrastructure Canada grant for the Henry Street Project in West Perth.” said Mayor Walter McKenzie “We thank the federal and provincial governments who worked along with West Perth to make this happen. This much needed grant will allow us to make the much needed improvements to our infrastructure and allow capacity to expand our residential area for future needs in the north east portion of the Mitchell Ward.”

The announcement was made by the Government of Canada following a series of delays which caused frustration amongst local elected and public officials.
“While we are very appreciative of receiving this funding we are also frustrated with the tendering guidelines which were required to stick handle this project for our construction season.” said Mayor McKenzie “It has been a challenge to manage this project, to follow the rules related to tendering and contract approval for the eligible components while still ensuring that this critical project is can be completed in the 2019 construction season.”

M.P. Nater agreed the process was needlessly burdened by red-tape. “The application process began last year, yet it took until late August for Infrastructure Canada to give final approval. With the money arriving this late in the construction season Infrastructure Canada has put West Perth in a difficult situation. For four years I have advocated for stable and predictable infrastructure transfers from the federal government to our municipalities. The current Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, which requires multiple applications and reviews from all three levels of Government, is inefficient and needs to be changed. There are rural communities in Perth—Wellington and across Canada waiting on the Federal Government to approve infrastructure funding. It is unfortunate the current government has been unable to get infrastructure money out the door in a timely manner.”

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Media Contacts

Keith Mitchell
Office of John Nater, M.P.
John.nater@parl.gc.ca
519-273-1400

Matthew Rae
Office of Randy Pettapiece, M.P.P.
matthew.rae@pc.ola.org
519-272-0660