The Federal Infrastructure Minister says he’s made Kamloops-area politicians aware of how to get pieces of a huge pie of federal grants.

Francois-Philippe Champagne says $180 billion is budgeted in the next decade for capital projects nation-wide.

He met with Thompson-Nicola Regional District board members last week and told them they need to go through the province to apply.

“And now I think the discussions and the prioritization needs to be happening with the province of B.C.,” Champagne says.

Champagne also says he’s been made aware of proposals for a Performing Arts Centre in Kamloops and a First Nations cultural centre at the former Stuart Wood School.

“Obviously they’ve been discussed, so I’m aware of these,” he says. “And like I say, the way for these projects to go forward is to advocate these projects to the provincial government, because the funds are available to fund a number of these projects.”