Investing in Canada Infrastructure (ICIP) – Community, Culture and Recreation Stream funding agreement

In November of 2019, the City of Burlington submitted the Civic Square Revitalization project to the Investing in Canada Infrastructure (ICIP) – Community, Culture and Recreation Stream funding program. ICIP is a national cost-shared infrastructure funding program between the federal government, provinces and territories, and municipalities and other recipients. The cost-share breakdown for total eligible costs is:

• Federal Contribution 40.00%
• Provincial Contribution 33.33%
• Municipal Contribution 26.67%

The Community, Culture and Recreation Stream was launched in 2019. There was approximately $407 million in federal funding and $320 million in provincial funding available, over 10 years starting in 2019-20 in this application-based stream.

This stream supports the construction of new facilities and upgrades to existing facilities that improve community infrastructure (e.g., community centres, libraries), recreational venues (e.g., arenas, recreational spaces) and cultural spaces (e.g., theatres, museums).

In April 2021, the City of Burlington, together with the Governments of Canada and Ontario in a virtual event, celebrated the funding approval of the Revitalization of the Civic Square project. To facilitate a transfer of the funding from the federal and provincial governments to the City, a fully executed transfer payment agreement is necessary.

• The new design of Civic Square includes removing all the stairs and raising the grade so that all surface run off (rain) drains into proposed tree pits, which will not only irrigate the trees but reduce the amount of water entering the storm sewer system.
• The tree pits will be substantial in size, each about 30 cubic meters, to allow their roots room to grow which will translate into larger and healthier tree canopies. This low impact development approach to design is a step towards a more resilient landscape.