Alberta’s Minister for Municipal Affairs Diana McQueen announced Friday the province is allocating $400 million in new money for municipalities for the final quarter of the 2014/2015 fiscal year.
That will increase the 2014 Municipal Sustainability Initiative funding, which helps municipalities pay for big infrastructure projects, to $1.6 billion, she said.
In a news conference in Red Deer, McQueen said infrastructure dollars will help keep people in jobs during economic downturn.
Last month, the mayors of Edmonton and Calgary expressed concern the province was going to reduce the grant.
“Any infrastructure transfer coming to municipalities is important in order to ensure that the doom and gloom doesn’t come to fruition,” Edmonton mayor Don Iveson said at the time.
