Federal budget 2016: Thunder Bay mayor on lookout for infrastructure money

Thunder Bay's mayor says he'll be watching Tuesday's federal budget announcement with great interest.

Increased funding for municipalities to spend on infrastructure whether that be roads and sewers or larger projects is something Keith Hobbs is expecting to see.

Hobbs told CBC News that he's heard good news is coming for municipalities.

"I hope I'm grinning at the end of the day," he said.

"We've been after the previous government and the provincial government to fund us at higher levels," he continued. "So we're keeping our fingers crossed and if that happens it's going to be great for our budgets."

There's been suggestions through talks between the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and Ottawa that the division of funding between federal, provincial and municipal governments for some projects currently each level pays one third of the cost could be readjusted to lessen the share on local governments, Hobbs said.

Any sort of relief on the municipal budget would be welcome, Hobbs said.

The federal budget on 'social infrastructure'

Hobbs said he's also watching for how the budget addresses so-called social infrastructure things such asaffordable housing and other efforts to combat homelessness.

"We have roads and bridges and the [things] that people normally view as infrastructure, but we have a huge social infrastructure deficit," Hobbs added.

The possibility of increased spending in that area has come up at pre-budget consultations with Thunder Bay MPs, Hobbs said.

"We're hoping to hear something on that front as well, because Thunder Bay .... [is] one of the struggling cities in that regard as well."