Provincial-Territorial Base Fund

Established under the 2007 Building Canada plan, the $2.275 billion Provincial-Territorial Base Fund provides predictable funding to provinces and territories to address core infrastructure priorities.

The Fund helps build or renew infrastructure in almost all Building Canada Fund eligible categories.

How the Fund Works

To be eligible for funding, provinces and territories were first required to sign a Provincial-Territorial Base Fund Agreement with the Government of Canada.

To receive funding, provinces and territories must submit a capital plan containing a list of initiatives for federal cost-sharing. The plan includes a brief description of each initiative, the eligible category of investment and the total eligible cost. The federal government will contribute up to 50 per cent of the plan's eligible costs for provinces and up to 75 per cent for territories.

The Fund was originally established to provide each province and territory with funding of $25 million per year, over seven years (from 2007 to 2014), for a total of $175 million per jurisdiction.

However, Canada's Economic Action Plan, announced in 2009, offered to accelerate payments for "ready-to-go" infrastructure projects. Provinces and territories could choose to accelerate all or part of the Fund to be spent by March 31, 2011. (Eight of the 13 provinces and territories chose to accelerate funding).

The Economic Action Plan also made Provincial-Territorial Base funding more flexible, allowing provinces and territories to use their funding for all highways and roads, regardless of location, status or ownership.