Federal Govt & NWT Boost Public Transit In NWT

"This is good news for the Northwest Territories and we know there is more to come. We look forward to significant progress in the future to help build a strong foundation for Northerners to be productive and responsible partners in Canada," said Floyd Roland, Premier of the Northwest Territories. Michael McLeod, NWT Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs said, "The nine projects announced today are the first projects selected to receive Public Transit funds and these projects will improve both public transit systems and active transportation infrastructure in the Northwest Territories. These projects were scored and selected based on the program priorities of sustainability, building on existing systems, project need and partnerships." The Government of the NWT circulated a call for applications, along with information on the application guidelines and evaluation criteria, to all NWT communities in April 2007 subsequent to the signing of the Canada-Northwest Territories Public Transit Agreement. The projects announced today are the recipients of funds allocated during the first two of three application intakes. The final application deadline is March 1, 2008 where the remaining funds of over $425,000 will be allocated to successful community public transit projects. The scoring criteria for evaluating projects were developed in partnership with the NWT Association of Communities. Project scoring utilizing these criteria is completed by a team including GNWT staff from each region. Funding for community public transit is one component of the partnership investments Canada's Government is making in infrastructure. Through its unprecedented $33-billion Building Canada plan, the Government will provide long-term, stable and predictable funding to help meet infrastructure needs across Canada. Building Canada will support a stronger, safer and better Canada. Over the last several months, the Government of Canada has met with provinces, territories and the municipal sector to discuss the Building Canada infrastructure plan and priority projects to be funded under the plan. http://news.gc.ca/web/view/en/index.jsp?articleid=359119 [Proofreader’s note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on November 7, 2007]

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