Remarks for Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities to the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities

Ottawa, Ontario
June 16, 2020

Good afternoon.

Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today.

The health and well-being of Canadians has been—and will continue to be—the top priority of our Government. But this pandemic has affected more than our personal health. It's having a profound effect on our economy.

Our Government's historic Investing in Canada Plan is about building a more prosperous, more resilient and more sustainable future for our children and grandchildren.

Over the last three months we've assessed and approved hundreds of projects. We've talked with every province and territory about their changing infrastructure needs and priorities.

And we've put in place a new leadership team at the Canada Infrastructure Bank – which just this month announced an MOU with the government of Alberta on an exciting proposal for a Calgary-to-Banff rail line.

We're funding electric buses, renewable energy, and water projects and better broadband that will help create good jobs and help communities get back on their feet.

Our Government understands the challenging situation that cities and towns are in. I have spoken with provinces, territories, mayors, and Indigenous leaders, and I've heard about the financial pressures this pandemic has imposed.

Which is why we are looking at ways to help them safely restart their economies – without losing sight of our long-term goals: to create jobs, and build a stronger, cleaner and healthier and more connected country.

Investing in Canada Plan

Our Investing in Canada Plan is investing more than $180 billion over 12 years in five key priorities: public transit; green; social; trade and transportation; and rural and northern communities' infrastructure.

We are making great progress.

Together, the 20 federal departments and agencies who deliver funding through the Plan have already committed over $68 billion and invested in nearly 55,000 projects, most of which are either underway or completed.

Projects like the ones I was happy to announce this morning in Waterloo. These are investments in public transit and active transportation – from improvements to bus shelters and pedestrian crossings to new and expanded walking and cycling routes – that will help create jobs, get more people moving, and make our cities and towns better places to live.

ICIP Flexibilities/COVID-19/GTF

We are also proposing to introduce a new COVID-19 funding stream that would allow provinces and territories to redirect over $3 billion of existing federal funding to projects that can start quickly.

Communities must have the resources they need to get projects going during this pandemic.

As announced on June 1, we pushed out all this year's funding to municipalities through the federal Gas Tax Fund and we provided it in one single payment last week. It's a first step to help ease the immediate cash crunch and buy communities some time.

Next Steps

We believe that better is possible when it comes to maximizing the value of infrastructure investments.

That is why my mandate letter includes instructions from the Prime Minister to look at best practices globally when it comes to assessing and funding infrastructure needs. I firmly believe that a National Infrastructure Assessment, which they have established in the UK, would benefit this country and our long-term infrastructure planning.

We also believe there may be room to explore looking at outcomes in a broader sense – so we consider infrastructure projects as part of overall plans to achieving outcomes for Canadians. The idea is to better connect national infrastructure priorities with long-term provincial and municipal strategies, while also improving accountability for all orders of government (for example from provinces and municipalities for Gas Tax funding).

COVID has also shown that we need to ensure we are building resilient and inclusive communities. This includes affordable high speed broadband across the country (including rural and First Nations), housing for all, and more access to open spaces and nature.

Finally, I can assure you that I am focused on getting value for taxpayers – we need to ensure that every dollar does double and triple duty with outcomes that benefit our climate, marginalized populations and disadvantaged communities, while creating jobs and growing our economy. What we build and where we build matters. That is why we are focused not simply on 'shovel-ready' projects but also ensuring they are 'shovel-worthy'.

We are contributing to a safe restart for our economy - helping communities get back on their feet, supporting them to get more infrastructure built – like high speed broadband, public transit, affordable housing and clean water – creating jobs, and building a stronger, cleaner, healthier and more connected country.

When Canada builds, Canada grows.

I look forward to answering your questions.

Thank you.