Mr. Chairman, and honourable members of the committee, fellow witnesses, thank you for inviting me to speak before you today on the important topic of ensuring prosperous and secure urban communities.
As you know, Canada is in many ways a nation of cities. More than 80% of our population now call the city home. That's double the rate of urbanization seen at the beginning of the 20th century.
Here in Alberta city dwellers make up almost 83% of our population, which is an important demographic reality that policy-makers at all levels of government must consider when contemplating public policy that affects the prosperity and sustainability of our urban communities.
Specifically, growth in the city of Calgary has been nothing short of remarkable. Since 2006 our urban population has grown by over 10%. Private investment, employment, consumer spending, and infrastructure investment have all grown considerably over that same period, accelerating Calgary's emergence as a thriving metropolis in western Canada. Solid job creation and low unemployment have fuelled domestic demand, lifting retail sales growth and housing starts across the city. Our provincial energy sector continues to support business services in all sectors of our economy, while at the same time encouraging the emergence of new industry clusters, creating broad-based economic growth that continues to attract new Calgarians to our city every year.
As remarkable as this growth has been, it comes with attendant growth-related challenges. Calgary's population has grown at a rate that has far outpaced the working life of much of our city's infrastructure, necessitating considerable investment in the coming years to maintain its overall functionality and reliability.
One example is the overall efficiency and reach of our public transit system. Already stretched, Calgary's growth has placed added pressure on our transportation infrastructure, limiting the mobility of Calgary's workforce and leading to congestion on our roadways and lost productivity quantified in the billions.
Additionally, our strong economy and the pace of population growth have led to problems of affordability in and around the Calgary area, putting an increasing financial strain on the families and small businesses that are located here. Challenges such as aging infrastructure, declining workforce mobility, and an emerging affordability crisis compound yet another perennial problem in western Canada, and that's our ability to attract a workforce of sufficient size to adequately satisfy overall market need. Alberta's labour shortage is certainly one of the most limiting factors to our overall prosperity. Left unresolved it will remain a serious impediment to future growth.
It's with these growth-related challenges in mind that I come before the committee today to discuss certain recommendations that will help inform the committee's future deliberations on these issues. First, adequate funding for municipal infrastructure should remain a top priority for the federal government in the coming fiscal year. A reliable network of modern infrastructure is critical to a city's economy, enabling the mobility of goods, services, and people, and maximizing the overall livability of a city. Investments over the last five years by the federal government have certainly helped to close what was once a gaping municipal infrastructure deficit, but additional support is certainly necessary, especially when you consider that local governments own a far larger share of Canada's public infrastructure stock than other orders of government.
The federal government's 10-year funding commitment announced as part of the 2013 economic action plan is welcome support, but to ensure its successful implementation, large urban centres throughout Canada should be given the flexibility they need to set priorities and make funding decisions accordingly.
Second, it would be important for the federal government to provide municipalities with the guidance and leadership necessary to adopt a proactive approach to addressing the affordability concerns that many municipalities, including Calgary, face. Without targeted relief Calgary risks losing a significant portion of its workforce due to increased costs and will have even greater difficulty attracting the future labour force it will need to sustain its economic growth. This places even greater strain on the resourcing issues our business community already faces and discourages future investment and growth.
The federal government should work with cities and communities to lower investment barriers to certain projects, including the building of new rental housing, and extend existing affordable housing programs to ensure that our growing urban populations have safe, affordable places in which to live.
As a leading advocate for Calgary's business community, the Calgary Chamber of Commerce recognizes the fundamental importance of urban prosperity and stability to the success of our members. No single solution will address all these growth-related challenges our city currently faces, but it is my firm belief that with a proactive and concerted approach and strong partnership with our federal government we can take the important steps necessary to transform our city into an even greater place in which to live and work.
Thank you to the committee members for your consideration. I look forward to your questions later.