Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My name is Darwin Durnie. I'm the president of the Canadian Public Works Association. With me here this afternoon is Mr. Clarke Cross, who is CPWA's federal government relations coordinator.
Our membership is composed of over 2,000 public works practitioners from across Canada, representing all disciplines of public works. In a nutshell, public works is the backbone of our communities, large and small, urban and rural. All the public assets above the ground, below the ground, and on the ground are public works. It's our infrastructure.
Additionally, we provide services that make our communities safe and sustainable and fun places to work and grow. Snow and solid waste removal, urban transit, signalling and street lighting, and cultural spaces are but a few of the services our members deliver to Canadians 365 days a year, 24/7.
Today we'll focus on two recommendations. First, like other infrastructure stakeholders, we are encouraging the government to build on and sustain investment in infrastructure and to adopt a long-term approach to funding and investment beyond the end of the EAP in 2011 and the Building Canada fund in 2014.
Second, we encourage government to work with municipalities and provinces to ensure the smooth and orderly completion of the economic action plan. There's no denying that the billions of dollars invested in infrastructure through stimulus spending and the Building Canada fund have created an infrastructure legacy and economic benefits across the communities in Canada. However, as stimulus funding is withdrawn and the Building Canada fund becomes fully subscribed, we believe that governments need to begin planning for the next generation of infrastructure programs now and begin implementing new tools to improve delivery.
Some of those basic requirements or tools were created during the EAP. Others are still required. For instance, a national vision for infrastructure first requires long-term assurances on funding, which will provide municipalities and industry with the predictability they require for the renewal of existing assets and for building new infrastructure to keep Canada competitive. Second, this new national vision for infrastructure should obviously include a tool or method for measuring success.
Next, all orders of government and first nations need to share analysis, research, and best practices to leverage and maximize the return on infrastructure investment and to incent innovation. CPWA has been working actively on this front, but the federal government has a coordinating role to support and foster forums that allow this exchange of information to take place. Issues that have emerged from these discussions include the need to address capacity challenges facing small communities and first nations and the need to explore alternative infrastructure financing solutions, such as public-private partnerships.
We want to briefly talk about the March 31, 2011, deadline for stimulus spending.
First is the good news. From an on-the-ground perspective, an end-user's perspective, there have been significant and positive results. The stimulus programs brought forth an unprecedented need to approve applications and get money to projects as soon as possible. Government had to adapt its methods. No longer would delays to approvals be permitted, and our industry had to nominate thousands of shovel-ready projects and fill out innumerable applications.
In response to these challenges, a streamlined and simplified application process for project funding was developed. This was welcomed by CPWA and its members, and particularly by those smaller communities with more limited administrative capacity.