2017-18 Departmental Results Report

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Raison d'être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

Raison d'être

The key to building Canada for the 21^st century is a strategic and collaborative long-term infrastructure plan that fosters economically vibrant, strategically planned, sustainable and inclusive communities. Infrastructure Canada works closely with all orders of government and other partners to enable investments in social, green, public transit and other core public infrastructure, as well as trade and transportation infrastructure.

Mandate and role

Infrastructure Canada provides long-term predictable support to help Canadians benefit from world-class, modern public infrastructure. The Department achieves this by making investments, building partnerships, developing policies, delivering programs, and fostering knowledge about public infrastructure in Canada. Since it was established in 2002, the Department has been an important funding partner, working with provinces, territories, municipalities, Indigenous Communities, the private sector and non-profit organizations, along with other federal departments and agencies, to help build and revitalize infrastructure that supports modern, inclusive and diverse communities - and a strong Canada.

Infrastructure Canada is delivering the Investing in Canada planⁱ, along with 13 other federal departments and agencies. Through this plan, the Government of Canada is investing more than $180 billion over 12 years in five main infrastructure priorities: public transit, green infrastructure, social infrastructure, trade and transportation infrastructure, and rural and northern communities. Infrastructure Canada is responsible for the overall coordination and annual reporting on results of the Plan, while delivering on a number of important initiatives, including the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Programⁱⁱ, the Smart Cities Challengeⁱⁱⁱ and the Canada Infrastructure Bank^iv.

In 2017, the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities was designated as the Minister responsible for the Canada Infrastructure Bank, an arms' length Crown corporation that will invest $35 billion into new revenue-generating infrastructure projects that are in the public interest and seek to attract private sector and institutional investment to these projects.

In 2015, the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities was designated as the Minister responsible for federal matters relating to the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Initiative^v. The Government of Canada, the Province of Ontario and the City of Toronto created Waterfront Toronto in 2001 through provincial legislation to oversee and lead the renewal of Toronto's waterfront.

Also in 2015, the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities was given responsibility for the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority^vi, a Crown corporation responsible for designing, financing, building, operating and maintaining a new, publicly-owned international crossing between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan that will be delivered through a public-private partnership.

In 2011, the Government of Canada committed to building a new bridge over the St. Lawrence River. Infrastructure Canada oversees the new Champlain Bridge Corridor project^vii, working with the private partner, Signature on the St. Lawrence Group. The Minister of Infrastructure and Communities is also responsible for the Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Incorporated^viii, a Crown corporation whose mandate is to ensure users' safe passage on its structures located in the Greater Montréal Area.

For more general information about the Department, see the "Supplementary information" section of this report. For more information on the Department's organizational mandate letter commitments, see the Minister's mandate letter^ix.

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