INDUSTRY QUESTIONS AUTHENTICITY OF BUDGET INCREASES FOR INFRASTRUCTURE
Gas Taxes Increase While Highway Construction Projects Are Cut & Delayed
April 19, 2012 – Industry experts are concerned the Manitoba government is playing a shell game with infrastructure funding across the province.
“In an ironic twist, the $50 million the gas tax increase will generate, is the same amount that government had cut from the 2012 highways construction program in early March 2012 which was not announced to the public,” said Chris Lorenc, President of the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association (MHCA).
In total, Lorenc said that on March 2nd, 2012, 10 projects had been cut and another 15 delayed to the back half of the construction season. “This is a devastating blow to the industry, to the people we employ and to every municipality desperate to repair crumbling infrastructure.”
On March 8, 2012 the MHCA requested clarification following distribution of a significantly reduced 2012 construction program. “We still await the opportunity to discuss this with government in the hope that the chopped highways construction projects can be added back in.”
Lorenc said that “It’s disingenuous for government to portray the gas tax hike as adding to a construction boom without telling Manitobans that it has actually made significant cuts to the highways construction program.
“To us, it looks like the government is taking $50 million more in fuel taxes from the public, while at the same time reducing the highways construction program by $50 million,” said Lorenc.
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For further information, please contact: Chris Lorenc, President of the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association (MHCA) at 204.947.1379.