Canada-Quebec investment of $367,280 in Lyster for repair work on Saint-Louis Building

Building Canada Fund – Quebec, Communities Component

Lyster, Quebec, September 1, 2010 – The Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of Natural Resources, today joined Laurent Lessard, Quebec’s Minister of Municipal Affairs, Regions and Land Occupancy and Minister responsible for the Centre-du-Québec Region, in announcing that the Municipality of Lyster will receive $367,280 in joint government financial assistance under the Communities Component of the Building Canada Fund – Quebec for repairs to the Saint-Louis Building.

The project involves retrofitting and renovating the Saint-Louis Building in Lyster. Formerly a primary school built in the 1950s, the building now houses an early childhood centre and a fitness centre. The work consists primarily of insulating the exterior walls and replacing about 40 windows and the ventilation and heating system. In addition, removal of the interior partitions will expand the usable space to accommodate more children at the early childhood centre in the basement and add toilets, showers and lockers in the municipal fitness centre upstairs. These improvements will encourage more Lyster residents to integrate physical activity into their daily lives.

“Renovating the Saint-Louis Building will benefit the residents of the Municipality of Lyster. By funding this initiative, we are seeing to it that the population enjoys the high quality of life for which our country is famous. Indeed, the Government of Canada is committed to equipping every community with modern facilities to ensure citizens’ health and safety. The renewal of public infrastructure is part of a broad action plan that will enable us to thrive and prosper in a healthy environment,” explained Minister Paradis.

“Once the work is complete, the Municipality of Lyster will have more spacious and better equipped facilities in which to welcome a far greater number of users. In supporting this project, the Government of Quebec is moving forward to ensure the province’s municipalities have infrastructure that meets their unique realities while fostering sustainable development. By injecting new capital into the Quebec Infrastructure Plan, our government is looking to accelerate the execution of numerous infrastructure projects throughout the province, like this one in Lyster, in an effort to improve Quebecers’ well-being, create jobs and promote a high-performance economy. In this way, we are leaving the municipality a legacy of quality infrastructure with which to face the challenges of the future,” added Minister Lessard.

Completion of this project will necessitate an overall eligible investment of $550,921. The governments of Quebec and Canada will each contribute $183,640 toward the work, for a total of $367,280 in combined government funding, while the Municipality of Lyster will assume the remaining third, or $183,641, of the project’s costs.

The Communities Component of the Building Canada Fund – Quebec is a cost-sharing initiative aimed at funding infrastructure projects in communities with fewer than 100,000 inhabitants. These communities are thus able to use this assistance to improve infrastructure that is in major need of revitalization, including water treatment plants, water supply systems and cultural and sports centres.

For provinces, like Quebec, that have committed all of their funding under the Communities Component, the Government of Canada’s Economic Action Plan provides for up to $500 million in additional funding for projects that will be completed by March 31, 2011.

In Quebec, a joint federal-provincial contribution of $232 million will be used to fund 106 infrastructure projects.

The contribution from the Government of Canada has been awarded through Canada’s Economic Action Plan. To learn more about this plan, visit www.actionplan.gc.ca.

For further information on the Government of Quebec’s Quebec Infrastructure Plan, see www.infrastructures.gouv.qc.ca.

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Sources:

Simon Bachand
Special Assistant, Communications
Office of the Honourable Denis Lebel
Canada Economic Development
Tel.: 613-996-6236

Sylvain Bourassa
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister Of Municipal Affairs, Regions and Land Occupancy
Tel.: 418-691-2050