Canada has a persistent infrastructure gap and a chronic problem of underinvestment. This is especially true in remote and northern communities. One attempt to help solve this has been the establishment of the Canada Infrastructure Bank.
Ehren Cory, the recently appointed CEO of the bank, joins Public Policy Forum’s Policy Speaking podcast to discuss the state of infrastructure in our country, the need the bank fills in the marketplace, and the role it plays in getting projects built.
Speaking with host Edward Greenspon, Cory outlines the purpose of the bank: to invest public money in attracting substantial private and institutional investments in new infrastructure projects, to advise public sponsors on priorities, and to develop as a hub for research and expertise.
The stable, low cost financing and risk sharing the bank provides ensures projects that wouldn’t otherwise get built do, from transit in Quebec, to irrigation systems in Alberta, to broadband infrastructure in Winnipeg.
And while there is room for improvements in our country, Cory highlights the need to acknowledge where we actually rank in the world in terms of the ecosystem in place here. We have lots to build on already, we just need to allocate the resources and actually do it, he says.
“On any global assessment of jurisdictions that have done better at building infrastructure in the past decade, Canada is somewhere, along with Australia and the UK, in the top three…That doesn’t mean we don’t have lots more to do. I’m of the mantra ‘Proud, but not satisfied.’”
He goes on to discuss the investment initiatives the bank is focused on, the projects across the country they are investing in, Indigenous partnerships, the rural-urban economic divide in Canada, and much more.
