Thank you very much.

Good afternoon everyone.

I’d like to begin by thanking the President of the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association, Thomas Schmidt, for inviting me here.

I’m happy to be here today to provide you with an update on what we have achieved together over the last year but first let’s talk a little bit about water…

Water…what would we do without it? We use it in some form or another every day of our lives. It nourishes our bodies, cleans our dishes, washes our clothes, and keeps summer cottagers active and happy.

The fact is we can’t live without it. Although water is an abundant natural resource it’s not infinite. So we must do what we can to preserve our waterways. We do this by investing in environmentally friendly infrastructure programs that will sustain our great lakes, improve drinking water and ensure proper filtration and treatment of wastewater for all Canadian communities.

That’s why it is especially important for me to engage with stakeholders like yourselves, who are so directly affected by government policies and priorities. I can assure you, investments in water and wastewater infrastructure are priorities for this government.

We all know this has not been an easy year for Canadians. Communities across the country have struggled and are continuing to struggle with economic challenges. Around the world, governments have made changes to programs and policies in an effort to create and maintain jobs and stimulate local economies.

Across Canada, our Government has focused on infrastructure investments that will stimulate regional economies, create jobs, benefit the environment, and improve the health and safety of Canadian communities.

We have worked hard in partnership with our provincial, territorial and municipal colleagues to streamline approval processes. By cutting red tape, we can flow money faster than ever before so we can get shovels in the ground quickly. This cooperative effort has been incredible. And it’s working.

Last January, our Government announced Canada’s Economic Action Plan. This Plan was our government’s response to the global economic downturn, designed to stimulate Canada’s economy, create jobs and protect those hit hardest recession.

It provided $12 billion over two years in new infrastructure funding. It established a 2-year, $4 billion dollar Infrastructure Stimulus Fund. It called for streamlined environmental assessments and approval processes. It accelerated the existing $33 billion dollars under the Building Canada plan.

We also committed $1 billion dollars over 5 years under our Green Infrastructure Fund towards environmentally sound projects, including water and wastewater initiatives.  In fact, just last week, in partnership with the Government of Manitoba, we announced our support for improvements to the existing South End Water Pollution Control Centre under the Green Infrastructure Fund.

The Government has also committed more than $118 million dollars from the Green Infrastructure Fund for major improvements to six wastewater facilities in Ontario.

Included in those improvements is work to:
improve the level of wastewater treatment in the community of Red Rock;
to upgrade Owen Sound's primary wastewater treatment facility to a secondary level of treatment;
And to upgrade the Township of South Dundas' Iroquois Wastewater Treatment Facility.

But that’s not all. These projects include improved sewer and filtration systems; they will help to protect the Great Lakes; and much, much more.  In the ten months since the release of Canada’s Economic Action Plan, the Government has committed over $1.7 billion dollars towards water and wastewater infrastructure projects alone.

For example:
Just east of Toronto, we announced $46.7 million1 to upgrade the Dufferin Creek Water Pollution Control Plant;
And in St. John’s Newfoundland, we invested $11.7 million2 to improve the efficiency and capacity of Bay Bulls Big Pond Water Treatment Plant.
And here in Ottawa, Minister Baird committed more than $9 million dollars3 to help reduce the frequency of sewer overflows into the Ottawa River.
Through investments such as these, our Government is helping to provide safe drinking water and to clean up and protect our Great Lakes ecosystem. 

What’s more, these investments are having a real impact on the daily lives of Canadians. Besides the obvious health and environmental benefits water investments are having, these investments are also benefiting our economy by creating jobs now and by continuing to create good, long-lasting jobs in the future.

Recently, Bill Ferreira from the Canadian Construction Association said, “Many of our members say they are very busy and it will be one of the busiest seasons on record.”

Our investments are making a difference.

And projects like these are underway across the province and country:  the Saint John Harbour Clean-Up in New Brunswick. Upgrading drinking water treatment in Laval Quebec. And funding to help the Capital Regional District in British Columbia develop solutions for wastewater treatment.  
Under the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, we’re investing in water across the country:

In Quebec, work is underway to improve the Desjardins drinking-water filtration plant. We’re investing to modernize the installation and increase the water production capacity.
In Alberta, work has already begun on a new water intake for Red Deer’s water treatment plant.
In Saskatchewan, work is underway on the construction of a pump station and other wastewater improvements in Regina. The Gravelbourg Water Treatment Plant has also begun construction on its upgrade and expansion plans to address the water quality issues.
In Manitoba, funds are at work upgrading otherwise deteriorating infrastructure at the Wellman Lake Water Treatment Plant.

And of course, these projects are just a small sample of the investments Canada is making in water and wastewater.  We are making historic infrastructure investments across all sectors, across all provinces where upgrades and construction are needed most.

Each and every one of our infrastructure projects is putting Canadians and Canada on track, so we can beat this global economic recession and come out on top!

We have accomplished much over the last ten months. There are short-term and long-term benefits for Canadians with the stimulus we’re providing now.

Our approach to stimulus has two tracks. First, we accelerated our existing infrastructure funding by streamlining and fast-tracking approvals under our Building Canada plan.

We decided that with hundreds of projects ready to go and the economy needing stimulus now, we needed to push that money out the door to start construction on large projects and small community projects immediately.

Second, we committed almost $12 billion dollars in new funding over two years for ready-to-go infrastructure projects.  In fact, just yesterday, the Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, presented our Government's latest report to Canadians on the implementation of Canada's Economic Action Plan.
It’s no small feat that in just 10 months, our government has committed 97 per cent of our Economic Action Plan, adding up to 12,000 projects across the county. And 8,000 of them have already begun.

Projects from coast to coast to coast are up and running, jobs are being created and communities across the land are seeing benefits. Of the $12 billion in infrastructure stimulus funding, we have committed more than $9 billion towards over 6,700 provincial, territorial and municipal infrastructure projects.

To date, about 3,200 projects have been announced under our Infrastructure Stimulus Fund. Over 150 projects have already been completed. In fact, we’ve already committed more than $3.6 billion of this $4 billion dollar fund.

We are making great strides, and we will continue to set realistic, attainable goals to boost our economy.

We are already seeing early signs of a recovery, however, recovery is fragile. We are not out of the woods yet. It is critical that we continue to fully implement the two-year Economic Action Plan.
Our government is committed to doing just that. Doing anything else would be reckless and irresponsible.

It is now up to our partners -- provinces, territories and municipalities -- to get projects moving, to get shovels in the ground and to get Canadians working.

Together, we can strengthen infrastructure across Canada.

Together, we can ensure that Canada emerges from this global recession sooner than elsewhere, and stronger than ever.

Thank you very much for your efforts in that regard so far.

Merci beaucoup.