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<\/p>\nOttawa announced $510 million for water and wastewater infrastructure in Alberta municipalities on Wednesday as part of a partnership with the provincial government over the next eight years, a move welcomed by urban planners who say it’s needed to support population growth.<\/p>\n
“Strong communities start right here,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said at a news conference in Red Deer. “They start with housing, and, of course, a home needs more than four walls and a roof, triple glazing, stone tops. They also need clean drinking water and reliable sewage systems.”<\/p>\n
The partnership is called the Canada-Alberta Housing Infrastructure Fund agreement, through which the province has committed at least a third of “eligible costs” for projects led by municipalities.<\/p>\n
“Red Deer, like so many communities across Alberta, has experienced the pressures that come from the kind of rapid population growth that we’ve seen over the last five years, as we’ve welcomed over 600,000 people to our province,” Premier Danielle Smith said at the conference.<\/p>\n
“This growth has strained public services and infrastructure all over the province, and it’s highlighted an acute need to build more and to build faster to catch up.”<\/p>\n
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Prime Minister Mark Carney was in Red Deer on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, to join Premier Danielle Smith and Red Deer Mayor Cindy Jefferies at a new housing project.<\/p>\n
The financial commitment is long overdue, said Dr. Sasha Tsenkova, a professor at the University of Calgary’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape.<\/p>\n
“This is really a much-needed support,” Tsenkova said. “We’ve been advocating for that on all fronts in terms of research findings and mobilizing the support from the industry, and also from politicians.”<\/p>\n
Calgary water main break prompted conservation, investment in infrastructure<\/p>\n
Local governments in the province collectively face a $30-billion infrastructure deficit, even as provincial funding for the issue has dropped by\u00a064 per cent compared to 2011, according to Alberta Municipalities, an association of municipal administrations in the region.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, water and wastewater systems have been in the spotlight since 2024, when a critical Calgary water main ruptured, threatening supply to millions of residents.<\/p>\n
The incident \u2014 followed by a second burst of the line last December \u2014 prompted significant investments from the city to replace the water line, and pushed the topic of infrastructure spending to the centre of public discourse during last year’s civic elections.<\/p>\n
The break also exposed the significant funding gap from provinces and federal governments that once played a larger role in supporting such expenditures.<\/p>\n
RelatedFunding ‘consistent with Carney government’s commitment to building infrastructure,’ says expert<\/p>\n
The chasm has also been a source of tension between demand for housing and existing capacity, which has ultimately halted growth and added to public reservations about new builds and immigration.<\/p>\n
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