The Honourable Gary Lunn, Minister of State (Sport), announced in March 2009, that the Government of Canada will invest $25 million in Canada’s trail infrastructure as part of the federal government’s Economic Action Plan. Here is a link to the government’s news release.

It looks like a good portion of the funding will go to snowmobile and ATV users by investing in multi-use trails that allow motorized vehicles. The news release mentions walking and cross-country skiing, but the federal budget states “Budget 2009 provides $25 million to the National Trails Coalition in 2009–10 for a national initiative to create, upgrade and sustain snowmobile and all-terrain-vehicle trails throughout the country over the coming year”. (Source)

BC’s portion of the funding will be $3 million. The Canadian Off-Highway Vehicle Distributors Council (ATV and dirt bike manufacturers and retailers) are part of the National Trails Coalition who will allocate the money. The other two groups in the National Trails Coalition are the Canadian Trail Federation and the Canadian Council of Snowmobile Organizations.

The FMCBC applied for and received funding from the National Trails Coalition for two trail projects:

The work that used the National Trails Coalition funds were completed March 2010.