On October 28th, 2020, the Province launched Ontario’s COVID-19 Resiliency Stream which provides funding for certain infrastructure projects for municipalities as well as education and long-term care through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP).

This much-anticipated announcement comes after the August 5th announcement by the federal government  that introduced a COVID-19 Resilience stream to the ICIP so that provinces and territories can use federal funding to act quickly on a wider range of more pandemic-resilient infrastructure projects.

The municipal portion of the total $1.05 billion funds, which is cost-shared between the federal and provincial governments (an 80/20 split), is $250 million. This includes $6.5 million for Indigenous and on-reserve education. These funds must commence by September 30, 2021 and be completed by December 31, 2021. Funds will be allocation-based for projects falling under four categories:

• Community, recreation, health and education renovations (e.g. retrofits, repairs or upgrades to long-term care homes, publicly funded schools and co-located childcare centre facilities, recreation centres or shelters);
• COVID-19 response infrastructure (e.g. heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, new builds or renovations to enable physical distancing);
• Active transportation (e.g. parks, trails); and
• Disaster mitigation, adaptation, or remediation (e.g. flood mitigation).

The stream will open November 16, 2020.

Edited for clarification: The Minister indicated that municipalities will be contacted with more information related to the allocations, the program and the application process.

Ontario News Release