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OTTAWA — Thomas Mulcair says Canada’s municipalities are heading for an “infrastructure cliff” unless the federal government commits to long-term, stable funding to repair crumbling roads, water and sewer systems.

And the NDP leader says that commitment must be made in the next budget in 2013 since the current Building Canada Fund is set to expire the following year.

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The fund, launched in 2007, has pumped some $33 billion into municipal infrastructure projects.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities is calling for a new 20-year plan, which would include increasing current federal spending on infrastructure by $2.5 billion annually.

The federation also wants municipalities to be able to spend federal money as they see fit, rather than having to apply for funding for each project.

Mulcair supports the federation’s recommendations in principle but is not committing to a specific dollar amount, other than to promise that an NDP government would turn over another one cent per litre of the existing gas tax to municipalities.