Toronto hopes to see federal infrastructure money soon

The City of Toronto says it could find out any day now which construction projects will be eligible for money from the federal stimulus plan.

Earlier this year the city put in just one funding request for $300 million to pay for a new fleet of streetcars.

But Ottawa turned that down.

It said the project didn't qualify because it wasn't "shovel ready" and wouldn't create local jobs or be completed by the deadline of 2011.

The city then put in funding requests for about 500 other projects and city officials say they expect to hear soon which of the projects will get the federal money.

Don Wanagas, spokesman for the city, said the list includes fixing bridges and sewers, as well as overhauls of TTC infrastructure.

"We're looking at things like bus terminal replacements, facilities that have rehabilitation needs and paving needs and overhead power distribution, those sort of things," said Wanagas.

The new projects require about $600 million and meet all of Ottawa's criteria, according to Wanagas.

"I'll give you an example," he said, "the Coxwell sanitary sewer repair, which is something that has to be done fairly quickly."

Toronto Liberal MP Gerard Kennedy is concerned that a delay could have a major impact on the city.

"We have 120,000 construction workers out of work in Canada, a great number of them in the GTA area, and the [federal stimulus money] was supposed to fix that," said Kennedy.

But the city is optimistic it will receive the funds and expects an announcement before the end of the month.