Sarnia-Lambton’s Conservative MP says plans to create a oversized load corridor for shipping large industrial components made in local metal shops should be a good match for the federal Liberal government’s infrastructure spending plans.
MP Marilyn Gladu said details of the Liberal government’s infrastructure spending plans are expected to be in the federal budget when it’s released March 22.
“We’re just waiting to see what the rules of engagement are,” she said.
“And then, we will be all over that fund like white on rice.”
The corridor is a project being pursued by the Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership and the Sarnia Lambton Industrial Alliance.
The alliance is a group of approximately 40 metal fabricators, engineering and other industrial service companies looking for new customers to make up for a drop in the work that was historically available at nearby petrochemical plants.
But, just moving large industrial vessels and components fabricated in their shops to a dock on the St. Clair River for shipping can be a major expense, so the alliance has been working to create a dedicated corridor through Sarnia.
It would have street corners able to accommodate wide turns by oversized loads, and utility lines placed so they wouldn’t have to be raised manually.
After Gladu, a professional engineer with experience in Chemical Valley, was sworn in following the fall election, she met with the Parliamentary secretary for the Liberal infrastructure minister to talk about the oversized load corridor project.
“They are going to be creating a new section of money under this infrastructure money called Trade and Trade Corridors,” Gladu said.
“And, they believe this project is a very good fit for that category.”
The Liberals came to power pledging to spend billions of dollars on infrastructure, and Gladu said the expectation is that a permanent corridor could lead to 2,000 to 3,000 well-paying jobs.
“I think this is where the Liberal agenda and our Sarnia-Lambton agenda really align, and we need to go and get that money,” she said.
Markets for the fabricating work Sarnia-Lambton is capable of doing can be found in western Canada, the U.S., as well as overseas in places like the Middle East, where the low Canadian dollar provides an advantage, Gladu said.
David Moody, with the economic partnership, said an engineering study of improvements needed for the proposed route to Sarnia Harbour is expected to be completed this month.
Moody said the partnership is also seeking provincial funding to help it hire a consultant to confirm the business case for the corridor.
An initial estimate is that $3.5 million may have to be spent just on the corridor itself. That figure doesn’t include improvements needed at the harbour, Moody said.
“We’re covering all the bases,” Gladu said.
The studies being carried out by the partnership and the alliance, “would allow them to access the funding that’s traditionally available under FedDev,” an existing infrastructure funding program, she said.
“If you can get the FedDev funding it’s great, but it takes longer,” Gladu said.
She added there’s a chance the new federal funding may not require equal contributions from the province and municipality, strings often attached to infrastructure programs in the past.
“That would be very good for us,” Gladu said.
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