Canada Infrastructure Bank

The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) is a federal Crown corporation established to ensure Canadians benefit from modern and sustainable infrastructure through partnerships between governments and the private sector. It does this through its core functions of supporting (through advisory, research and data) and investing in infrastructure projects, and acting as a centre of expertise on infrastructure projects by providing evidence-based advice to all orders of government. The CIB's activities leverage the capital and expertise of the private sector to achieve public outcomes and value for taxpayers.

The CIB helps public dollars go further by investing in revenue-generating infrastructure projects in the public interest and through the ability to utilize innovative financing tools. Its goal is to realize more infrastructure built across the country to benefit Canadians. By design, the CIB collaborates with federal, provincial, territorial, municipal, Indigenous and private investor partners to transform the way infrastructure is planned, funded and delivered.

The CIB was provided with $35 billion in capital in 2017 through the Canada Infrastructure Bank Act (CIB Act). As defined under the CIB Act, the purpose of the CIB is to:

"invest, and seek to attract investment from private sector investors and institutional investors, in infrastructure projects in Canada or partly in Canada that will generate revenue and that will be in the public interest by, for example, supporting conditions that foster economic growth or by contributing to the sustainability of infrastructure in Canada."

The CIB is headquartered in Toronto, and has regional offices in Montreal and Calgary, enabling ongoing engagement with partners across the country.

The CIB's independent Board of Directors is responsible for the organization's ongoing governance and for supervising its business operations, forward planning, strategic direction, and investment decisions, in line with the Government of Canada's priorities. The CIB works with the Government of Canada to set its strategic objectives through an annual corporate planning process.

The CIB's initial focus for investments included large, transformative projects such as regional transit plans, transportation networks (such as roads and bridges) and electricity grid interconnections in the public interest that benefit Canadians. In addition, the Bank's authorities have evolved over time to align with Government priorities by investing in priority sectors. This guidance was provided through federal Budgets and Statements of Priorities and Accountabilities, in response to feedback from stakeholders and a changing economic landscape. The CIB's priority sectors include:

• Public Transit, including major transit projects, and zero-emission buses;
• Green Infrastructure, including energy efficient building retrofits; water and wastewater; clean fuel and hydrogen production transportation and distribution; carbon capture, utilization and storage; and zero-emission vehicle charging and refuelling infrastructure;
• Trade and Transport, including trade corridors, bridges, passenger rail, and agriculture related infrastructure;
• Broadband, including for unserved and underserved community broadband connectivity; and
• Clean Power, including renewables, district energy, generation, storage, interties and transmission, and small modular reactors.

Within these priority sectors, the Bank also invests in infrastructure projects that advance economic reconciliation and benefit Indigenous communities, and in infrastructure that enables new housing builds and critical mineral development.

In Budget 2022, the Government provided the Bank with authorities to invest in private sector-led infrastructure projects that accelerate Canada's transition to a low-carbon economy, enabling the Bank to consider investments in: small modular reactors; hydrogen and clean fuel production; transportation and distribution; and carbon capture, utilization and storage.

Budget 2023 announced the Bank's investments in its Clean Power and Green Infrastructure priority areas will support the building of major clean electricity and clean growth infrastructure projects, and also announced the CIB will provide loans to Indigenous communities to support them in purchasing equity stakes in infrastructure projects in which the Bank is also investing.

In March 2024, the CIB announced the launch of its Infrastructure for Housing Initiative to provide low-cost financing to enable municipalities and Indigenous communities to build housing-enabling infrastructure needed to support thousands of new homes across the country.

The CIB has a proven track record of working with partners to catalyze private and institutional investment to develop projects of national significance. Looking forward, it is well positioned to help Canada build more infrastructure, faster, while keeping costs down for the government and taxpayers by catalyzing private investment.

Details of the Bank's investments and project partnerships are available on the CIB website.

Additional information

• Canada Infrastructure Bank
• Canada Infrastructure Bank Act
• Report to Parliament: Legislative Review of the Canada Infrastructure Bank Act (2017-2022)
• Statement of Priorities and Accountabilities – Canada Infrastructure Bank (September 2023)
• Statement of Priorities and Accountabilities – Canada Infrastructure Bank (February 2021)
• Statement of Priorities and Accountabilities – Canada Infrastructure Bank (December 2017)