Canada Community-Building Fund
The Canada-Manitoba Gas Tax Agreement, signed in November 2005, committed $167.3 million in federal gas tax revenues to Manitoba municipalities between 2005 and 2009 for environmentally sustainable municipal infrastructure. A further $267.6 million was provided through a four-year extension to the gas tax program starting in 2010.
In March 2014, Canada and Manitoba signed a new 10-year (2014-2023) Administrative Agreement for the transfer of Federal Gas Tax Funds. The new Agreement replaced the previous Gas Tax Agreements that expired March 31, 2014. Manitoba’s 10-year allocation under the current Agreement is over $716 million.
In the summer of 2021, Canada renamed the program the Canada Community-Building Fund (CCBF) to better reflect the program’s evolution over time to a flexible and permanent source of federal infrastructure funding to support community infrastructure projects. Additionally, Canada advised that fire halls and fire station infrastructure would now be considered eligible investments under the program through a new investment category and eligible costs were retroactive to April 1, 2021.
Manitoba’s municipalities, using their CCBF allocation, contribute to the three national program objectives: productivity and economic growth, clean environment, and strong cities and communities.
The following 18 infrastructure categories and one capacity building category are eligible under the CCBF and intended to support municipal long-term infrastructure planning:
| • local roads and bridges • highways • wastewater infrastructure • drinking water • solid waste management • public transit • disaster mitigation • broadband and connectivity • community energy systems |
• culture • tourism • sport • recreation • fire halls • local and regional airports • brownfield redevelopment • short-sea shipping • short-line rail |
Since signing the Canada-Manitoba agreement, Canada has provided some one-time transfers to provinces and territories as additional investment into the CCBF:
- In March 2017, Canada announced the transfer of over $30.1 million in uncommitted funds from a number of previously established funding programs to provinces and territories as a one-time top-up to the CCBF. Manitoba’s allocation under this transfer was over $835 thousand.
- In 2019, through the federal Budget, Canada issued a one-time supplemental transfer to provinces and territories. Manitoba’s allocation was over $72 million.
- In 2021, recognizing the critical role communities would play in Canada’s safe restart and to help reduce the risk of infrastructure projects being delayed or cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada provided another top-up to the CCBF. Manitoba’s allocation was over $72.5 million.
Manitoba’s total CCBF allocation, during the full 10-years of the program (2014-2023) is estimated to be over $861 million.
CCBF Outcomes Reports
As part of the reporting requirements under the current CCBF Agreement, Manitoba provides outcomes reports to the federal government, which report in aggregate, on the degree to which investments are supporting the progress towards achieving the following three program benefits:
1. Beneficial impacts on communities of completed eligible projects
2. Enhanced impact of CCBF as a predictable source of funding
3. Progress made on improving local government planning and asset management
Outcomes Report 2018 includes data from projects completed between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2016.
