The City of Barrie is about to get big money from the provincial government to rehabilitate a section of Bayfield Street.
During a news conference Friday in Barrie, Premier Kathleen Wynne and Ontario’s Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca announced the city would receive $675,000. The money will be used to rehabilitate a one kilometres stretch of Bayfield between Livingstone Street and the city limits.
The money is part of a $20 million announcement to repair municipal roads that are considered to be connecting links. These are municipal roads or bridges that lead to provincial highways.
“Our investment through Connecting Links in Highway 26 in Barrie — and in 22 other communities across Ontario — will help improve productivity, create or sustain jobs, and make our roads and bridges safer," Wynne said in a statement.
Twenty-three other municipalities will also benefit from the Connecting Links program. Burk's Falls will receive $1,053,218 for the rehabilitation of Armstrong Bridge, while Meaford will get $171,890 for the resurfacing of Sykes Street North.
The province plans to invest $160 billion over 12 years to improve infrastructure across Ontario.
While the news conference was focused on the funding announcement, controversy followed the premiere. Wynne faced questions from reporters about the ethics of political fundraising activities.
It comes after the Liberals raised $1.6 million in a byelection earlier this year; more than the party is allowed to spend during that campaign.
Wynne promised that changes are coming to the rules for all parties.
“We have all followed the same rules as I said in the legislature this week,” Wynne says. “My assumption is that we have all followed those rules with integrity.”
Wynne also sat down for a short round table discussion at a business in downtown Barrie before returning to Toronto.
