‘Communities absolutely need the infrastructure’: Province hands Dufferin communities nearly $1 million for infrastructure improvements

The Ontario government is spending nearly $1 million on Dufferin County’s infrastructure for recreation and transit through various grant programs.

Over the last month, a number of provincially-funded planned and completed infrastructure projects were announcement. These included expanding Dufferin-Caledon’s transit system, updating the Shelburne Curling Club and unveiling two new accessible tennis courts in Mono.

Dufferin-Caledon MPP Sylvia Jones said that with the growing population, this is a good time for advances in infrastructure to be made.

“When individuals come into a community and look at potentially staying, many look at the entire community,” Jones said. “How are the schools, is the hospital serving the community well, and when we put all of these pieces together, we really start to understand that complete communities absolutely need the infrastructure.”

Jones explained that to grow a community, all aspects of it need to be taken into consideration.

“When all of the infrastructure pieces are together, it means that when these new positions or potential positions come into the community, people see opportunities,” Jones said. “They see opportunities for their families, for a beautiful place to live, work and of course play because that’s all part of what makes Headwaters Region unique.”

The Town of Mono held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 3 for its new accessible tennis courts at Lynn Gibson Park.

The town received $100,000 from the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, which allowed the town to build the new courts and add extra features to the park. Landscaping was done to create a new playing field, trail connection, foot paths, a bike repair station, bike racks, picnic tables and benches.

“I’m just delighted with what’s happened, it could not have happened without the assistance of both the federal and provincial governments,” Mono Mayor John Creelman said at the ceremony.

Jones spoke at the ribbon cutting and shared how proud she is of their project because it built locally and partnered with many big players.

“When we have municipal engagement, federal engagement and provincial engagement, it shows we can work together and these projects really do make a difference to our communities,” Jones said. “I know that this will be a very well-loved and well-used facility.”

Ontario Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma attended the ceremony to congratulate the town on its recent addition and said the province will continue to invest in communities. The province’s new budget includes funding for additional wastewater, stormwater and drinking water infrastructure, she added.

Later this year, a new playground with rubber surfacing and shade trees is expected to be complete.

Funded by the Provincial Gas Tax program, $863,199 has been allocated to operating and expanding the current transit systems that run in both municipalities.

This year’s gas tax program is providing more than $3 million to help municipalities continue to support and grow their transit systems. It is helping to fund 102 municipalities and serve 140 communities across the province.

Caledon will be receiving $568,726 of the funding, while Orangeville will get $294,473. The funds can be used for expanding service hours, increasing routes, obtaining additional vehicles and improving transit accessibility.

Jones said in a press release that the Premier Doug Ford government will continue to invest in local transit to increase economic growth.

The Shelburne Curling Club was awarded a capital grant from the provincial government’s Ontario Trillium Foundation (OFT) to improve the facility.

The curling club has been a recreation and social hot spot in Shelburne, but has had some building challenges resulting in unpredictable programming times.

Flooding on the ice has been a factor in its programming challenges. The club plans on using the funding to complete damp proofing and install drainage to the exterior to solve this issue.

The club said this is meant to prevent any more flooding on the ice surface and the loss of programming times as a result of no ice availability.

Rebecca Weston, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Orangeville Banner