Finance Minister Bill Morneau tabled the 2019 federal budget in the House of Commons today.
Here are some of the highlights and investments in the North:
Post-secondary education
Up to $1 M over the next two years will go toward establishing a task force to study post-secondary education in the Arctic and Northern regions. The task force will make recommendations to territorial and federal governments and Indigenous partners on establishing a post-secondary education system in the North.
The Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning will receive $13 M over five years to support, “culturally appropriate and community developed curricula to enhance access to and success in higher education for Indigenous and northern students,” the budget states.
Infrastructure
Over the next three years, $18 M will go to Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) to support planning for the GNWT's proposed Taltson hydroelectricity expansion project.
The National Trade Corridors fund to Arctic and northern regions will increase by up to $400 M over the next eight years starting in 2020. The funds will go towards new roads and other connections between northern communities.
Food production
$15 M will go to the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) over the next five years to establish a Northern Isolated Community Initiatives Fund, which will support “ community-led projects for local and Indigenous food production systems.”
Environment
Starting in 2020, $49.9 M over fifteen years will go to CIRNAC to create the Northern Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program.
Economy
CanNor will received $75 M over the next five years to enhance its current economic development program and help to create a new initiative: Inclusive Diversification and Economic Advancement in the North (IDEANorth).
Arctic Sovereignty
Natural Resources Canada will receive up to $7.9 M over five years to “provide scientific support for Canada’s claim to its continental shelf in both the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans.”
- with files from Simon Whitehouse
https://www.nnsl.com/yellowknifer/mp-mcleod-reacts-to-2019-federal-budget/