13 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,M arch 28,2019 insidehalton.com Divorce Separation Agreements Custody Access Support 1540 Cornwall Rd. Suite 205,Oakville • 905-844-0464 • oakvillefamilylawyer.ca free 1/2 hr.Consultation Wills Estate Planning Power of Attorney 1200 Speers Rd., Unit 12, Oakville, Ont. L6L 2X4 (905) 845 - 1408 | Fax (905) 845 - 5931 | ricky@rickywong.ca Ricky Wong CPA, CA, MBA, B. Eng Ricky WongRicky W DIAMONDDIDIDIDIDIAMAMAMAMAMONONDIAMONDONDIAMONDONDIAMONDONDIAMONDONDIAMONDONDIAMONDONONONONDDD DIAMONDDIDIDIDIDIAMAMAMAMAMONONONONONONONDDD Voted BestAccountant by Oakville Beaver Readersoted BestAccountant by Oakville Beaver ReadersVoted BestAccountant by Oakville Beaver ReadersV for 11 ConsecutiveYears For more information please check our website www.rickywong.ca •Accounting •Auditing • Taxation hojrentals.ca Several Halton munici- palities are getting some extra cash for infrastruc- ture projects as a result of the 2019 federal budget. Among the items an- nounced in that budget on Tuesday, March 19 was a $2.2 billion Municipal In- frastructure Top-up fund, which will be divided up by municipalities across the country. The fund means that this year, Burlington will receive more than $5.6 mil- lion, Oakville will get more than $5.8 million, Milton will take more than $2.7 million and the Halton Re- gion will receive nearly $16 million. The money can be used for projects related to such things as public transit, water and wastewater, lo- cal roads, sports and recre- ation facilities, and tour- ism infrastructure. The one-time doubling of the federal gas tax fund- ing was well received by Burlington Mayor Mari- anne Meed Ward, who said city staff would bring a re- port to the Monday, April 1 committee of the whole meeting with recom- mended projects related to this. "In speaking with our federal colleagues today af- ter yesterday's federal bud- get announcement, we've confirmed that Burlington will get an additional $5.6 million in one-time fund- ing that will be free of the usual restrictions we see from gas tax cash pay- ments. This is simply great news for our city," said Meed Ward. "This funding can be spent on our infrastruc- ture, which we know from our capital budget talks is in need of upgrading - on our roads, transit, brown- field redevelopment, sports, tourism and disas- ter mitigation, to name a few." The federal government has said these infrastruc- ture projects will generate economic growth and cre- ate jobs to help ensure Hal- ton Region remains among the best places in the world to live. "Public investments in areas like infrastructure and public transit are cru- cial to driving economic growth and strengthening the middle class," said Oak- ville North-Burlington MP Pam Damoff. "Through my experi- ence on Oakville town council, I saw first-hand the benefits of funding to municipalities to help them build and revitalize their local public infra- structure while creating jobs and long-term pros- perity. By making smart in- vestments in local infra- structure, we can build roads, transit and water systems that make a differ- ence in our communities." Damoff and other local Liberal MPs have said one of the important reasons the federal government has brought this initiative forward is because the Province of Ontario is holding money back. They argued that in the year since the Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario signed the Inte- grated Bilateral Agree- ment for the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP), there has been no urgency from the province to open intake for all of the funding streams available through the pro- gram. "Our government knows how important it is to deliver services to our residents locally," said Bur- lington MP Karina Gould. "Municipalities should be able to move forward REGIONS GETTING MILLIONS MORE IN INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accompanied by Oakville MP John Oliver, Oakville North-Burlington MP Pam Damoff and Burlington MP Karina Gould during an October 2017 event in Burlington Riziero Vertolli Metroland Media DAVID LEA dlea@metroland.com NEWS See MPP, page 14 BUDGET REVEALS OAKVILLE ALONE WILL RECEIVE $5.8 MILLION