Tying federal funds to fourplexes happening despite premier pushback: Fraser

Many of Canada’s provincial governments say they are not willing to go along with the conditions to access a proposed $6-billion infrastructure fund tying eligibility for federal cash to making it easier to build fourplexes.

Meanwhile, Housing Minister Sean Fraser said the plans will go ahead whether the provinces get on board or not.

“I don’t believe in forcing municipalities, I believe in working with municipalities. I’ve walked a mile in their shoes,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said at a press conference in Vaughn, Ont., Wednesday.

“I’m going to leave that up to each municipality to decide, because they know better than the province and the federal government.”

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Fraser said as-of-right zoning for fourplexes is among the criteria in Housing Accelerator Fund deals with municipalities, so the provinces should not be surprised this is a federal priority.

“If provinces don’t want to make some of the changes, they don’t have to accept the funding that we are putting on the table. But this is billions of dollars in funding to build infrastructure that my provincial counterparts have told me is essential, and if they don’t want to deal with me directly we do have a direct delivery stream that will allow municipalities to tap into these funds,” Fraser said.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Fraser announced a federal budget plan to create a $6-billion municipal infrastructure fund to speed up the development of key pieces of housing infrastructure like water and sewage hookups.

Most of the money is planned to go to the provinces — but to access it, provinces must come to agreements with Ottawa to have municipalities pre-approve zoning for fourplexes and other smaller multi-dwelling housing