Federal Reserve budget includes money for police in Parliament

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The 2024 federal budget released Tuesday focused largely on housing and affordability, but outlined several initiatives in the National Capital Region, including more money for policing at Parliament House, funding for the National Arts Center and plans affordable housing.

The police presence in Parliament will be “reinforced”; More money for broader security measures

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The Ottawa Police Service will receive $10 million annually for the next five years from the federal government to increase the police presence around Parliament Hill. The money will come through Public Safety Canada.

Government support for public safety is an issue that Mayor Mark Sutcliffe recently said would “rejuvenate Centretown.”

Aside from funding for police, a government official said there are plans for the physical security of 80 Wellington St., which houses the prime minister’s and Privy Council’s offices, noting the building was “a target.” as well as the regional offices of the ministers

Separately, the budget also proposed a total of $40 million over the next five years for the Privy Council Office to improve “physical and cyber security” and “expand access to secure communications technologies for senior leaders of the government”.

National Arts Center

The 416-page document proposed providing the National Arts Center with $45 million over three years, starting in 2025-26, to “ensure continued support for artists and productions across the country.” The center supports more than 1,400 arts events across Canada annually.

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A government official said there was no information immediately available on how exactly those funds would be allocated.

The funding builds on last year’s budget pledge of $28 million by 2025.

Funding for laboratory improvements, restoration of the parliamentary complex and the Supreme Court

The budget includes $6.7 billion in funding over 20 years for Public Services and Procurement Canada to manage its “asset portfolio.” The PSPC is responsible for about a quarter of the government’s real estate assets, and about half of its portfolio is located in the National Capital Region.

The budget said $6.7 billion includes funding for improvements to Laboratories Canada facilities, ongoing restorations within the parliamentary grounds, modernization of certain information technology systems and progress on “the necessary rehabilitation” of the Supreme Court building. from Canada.

A government official said the laboratories will be replaced by new multidisciplinary facilities, while researchers using the same tools will be brought together.

$44 million was allocated for upgrades and other improvements in 2024-25, followed by $114 million for 2025-26, $23 million for 2026-27, $120 million for 2027-28 and $66 million for 2028-29.

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The National Holocaust Memorial

At a time when the government says it is seeing “a worrying rise in anti-Semitism,” the budget included a commitment to launch a project to “review and renovate” Canada’s National Holocaust Memorial.

The initiative, according to the budget, will be led by the Department of Canadian Heritage, which will use existing resources.

“Preserving the memory of the Holocaust is important to ensure it never happens again,” said Budget 2024. “By educating current and future generations of Canadians about the Holocaust, the government will advance its fight against denial and related misinformation.” with the Holocaust, and will raise awareness about anti-Semitism.

Building more homes in Wateridge Village

As part of a broader plan to use public lands to create more housing for Canadians, the federal budget said it would “urgently” unlock nearly 500 homes in Wateridge Village in Ottawa.

As part of a broader plan to use public land to create more housing in Canada, federal property will be leased to housing providers in Ottawa’s Wateridge Village with room to build nearly 500 homes.

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The new homes would be added to the 307 units announced by the government in November.

Intending to “unlock” federal land for 250,000 new homes by 2031, the government said it would use “all available tools to convert public land into housing, including leasing, acquiring other public land for housing and preserving the property, whenever possible.”

The document also outlines an additional $400 million over four years, starting in 2024-25, to complement the Housing Accelerator Fund launched in March 2023. The City of Ottawa approved a spending plan for $176.3 million pledged through the fund .

Several area politicians have noted that freeing up federal land and buildings for housing is a budget priority.

In an interview, Ottawa Center Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi said the public land leasing announcement was an “exciting opportunity” to build affordable housing “as quickly as possible.”

The government seeks to convert the defense medical center into housing

The government said the Department of National Defense would work with Canada Lands Company and other partners to sell 14 surplus properties, including the National Defense Medical Center in Ottawa.

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“Right now, there are discussions between Canada Lands and Defense essentially to see if these properties are viable,” a government official said.

The budget said the property had potential for housing and was not needed for National Defense operations.

The document also proposed $6.9 million over four years, starting in 2025-26, and $1.4 billion in future years for the department to build and renovate housing for members of the Canadian Armed Forces across Canada. The budget indicated the investments would support the construction of up to 1,400 new homes and the renovation of an additional 2,500 existing units in areas such as Ottawa, Kingston and Edmonton.

A government official said a breakdown of where the housing units would be built and renovated was not yet known.

Financing for the redevelopment of a national space for Indigenous Peoples

Four million dollars over two years has been allocated to Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada for the “long-term redevelopment” of 100 Wellington St. and 119 Sparks St. into “a national space for Indigenous peoples, including a space dedicated to Algonquin Peoples.”

The transformation of the former US embassy on Wellington Street was announced on National Indigenous Day on June 21, 2017.

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