Overview

The Canada Community-Building Fund (formerly known as the federal Gas Tax Fund) is money the federal government gives the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, the City of Toronto and province twice a year to support local infrastructure.

Municipalities can pool, bank and borrow against the funding. They can also use it to improve:

  • public transit
  • solid waste management
  • capacity building
  • short-line rail
  • broadband and connectivity
  • tourism
  • wastewater infrastructure
  • community energy systems
  • highways
  • short-sea shipping
  • brownfield redevelopment
  • sport
  • drinking water
  • local roads and bridges
  • local and regional airports
  • disaster mitigation
  • culture
  • recreation

How funding is distributed

In Ontario, the Canada Community-Building Fund is distributed and administered by the:

  1. City of Toronto
  2. Association of Municipalities of Ontario
  3. Ministry of Transportation

The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) manages funding for all municipalities except for Toronto. The City of Toronto and AMO receive and allocate funds on a per capita basis. That means the amount of money a municipality gets depends on how many people live there.

The Ministry of Transportation receives funds on a per capita basis for unincorporated areas and allocates funds based on kilometers of public roads managed by a Local Roads Board.

Role of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing

We signed the fund’s administrative agreement on behalf of the province and work with Infrastructure Canada, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and the City of Toronto to implement it.

We do not allocate or administer the funding.

Oversight committee

Under the administrative agreement, there must be an oversight committee that includes 2 members from the:

  • City of Toronto
  • federal government
  • the Province of Ontario
  • Association of Municipalities of Ontario

The oversight committee:

  • monitors the implementation of the administrative agreement
  • provides a forum to address and resolve issues arising from the agreement