Sarnia-Lambton won't be receiving federal government funding for an oversized load corridor.
The $12-million project would create a dedicated route from Sarnia's metal fabrication shops to Sarnia Harbour and involve significant road and power line modifications.
Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu got the news Thursday, and says she's extremely disappointed.
She was expecting the government would give $6-million toward the long-planned corridor, which would create an estimated 3,000 local jobs.
"This is a government that got elected on a promise to spend money on infrastructure, and they've spent less than half of the $14-billion," says Gladu. "It's particularly disturbing when they have $10-million to spend on building an ice rink on Parliament Hill with zero Canadian jobs, and they won't support us to create 3,000 jobs in Canada."
Gladu remains optimistic about getting funding from other sources, including the province or local industry.
She says 350 projects qualified for federal grants for similar infrastructure initiatives, and she's asked for a detailed account of who got the money and what it will go toward.
The city of Sarnia, the lead applicant for funding, has budgeted $4-million for the project over four years, contingent on senior government funding.
Mayor Mike Bradley says they'll have to come up with a new game plan now.
"We have the opportunity to reapply, but this was probably the best shot we had at this," says Bradley. "We need to look at alternatives, this project is too important to the community. The city had already committed quite a bit of money to make it happen and now we need to look at other alternatives."
