Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning. My name is Darwin Durnie, and I'm the president of the Canadian Public Works Association. I'm delighted to be here representing our 2,000 members. I'm Alberta-based, and I represent our chapters from sea to sea to sea.
I'm joined in the audience today by Mr. Peter King, the executive director of the CPWA, and also the executive director of our sister organization, the American Public Works Association.
By way of brief introduction, the CPWA represents the men and women in every community across Canada who plan, build, repair, and maintain our communities. From sustainability planning through to waste collection, snow removal to disaster response, our practitioners deliver services to the communities of our nation 24/7, thus providing liveable communities that are the envy of the world.
We appreciate the challenge ahead for the members of this committee. Economic realities and global pressures will require a delicate balance between continuing the good track record that has been achieved with infrastructure renewal and investment while ensuring that Canada's economy continues to recover and lead on the world stage.
Our submission focuses on two areas that we believe present great opportunities to protect our existing infrastructure and develop a comprehensive plan for the years ahead.
The Government of Canada committed last year to undertaking a comprehensive review of the current approach to financing first nations infrastructure. We support that review and recommend that CPWA work in partnership with the first nations communities and the federal government to provide training, certification, and membership programs to first nations public works employees through a pilot project. This will leverage the vast resources we have developed and are in use throughout North America and that have been applied to linear infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, and vertical infrastructure, such as schools and recreation centres.
CPWA members have lifetimes of knowledge that can be shared through mentorship. There are new opportunities for employment now, as current public works employees near the end of their careers. CPWA knows that now is the time to put the skills and knowledge transfer opportunities in place to ensure that young people are able to take advantage of these opportunities. As well, the benefits of well-trained first nations members maintaining their own community infrastructure are both personal and economic. The jobs and economic boost to the community are clear, as is extending the life cycle of existing assets.
CPWA members have already collaborated with American Public Works members to develop an accreditation and certification program that is portable throughout Canada and the U.S.
In working together with the first nations, we can ensure that these programs are adapted to the unique challenges of first nations while providing training and credentials that will allow employment opportunities on and off the reserve.
Our second recommendation is simply to continue the best practices that were developed during the rollout of Canada's economic action plan. We encourage the Government of Canada to allocate funds to allow for continued consultations between government and the infrastructure community, with the goal of developing a framework of basic principles for the next generation of infrastructure programming.
This should include, as a goal, the evaluation of the current state of key infrastructure assets. This could also include the integration of the tools that we have developed for use in Canada, and also those we have developed in partnership with the American Public Works Association, through the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure's model that evaluates linear infrastructure.
We witnessed the benefits achieved when all stakeholders came together during the early stages of the action plan.
We're very pleased to be able to present today, and we look forward to any questions.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.