Public Accounts Committee on April 29th, 2026

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Good afternoon, everyone.

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 36 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts.

Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the Standing Orders. Members are attending in person in the room and remotely using the Zoom application.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(g), the committee resumed consideration of the Public Accounts of Canada 2024 and Public Accounts of Canada 2025, referred to the committee on Tuesday, December 17, 2024, and Friday, November 7, 2025.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent—Akiawenhrahk, QC]

Mr. Chair, I would like some clarification.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Yes, I am listening, Mr. Deltell.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent—Akiawenhrahk, QC]

Have you heard anything back from the Minister of Finance and National Revenue in response to the invitation that we sent him a few weeks ago?

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Once again, no. We have not heard back as of yet. However, like you, I hope that now that yesterday's economic update is out of the way and the budget-related business has been introduced in the House, perhaps the Minister of Finance and National Revenue will answer our calls and emails. To date, he has not done so, but we will continue to ask him to appear before the committee before the summer recess.

In other news, I want to welcome our new member, MP Ma.

It's nice to have you joining us here.

We have a guest today.

Mr. Rana, it's nice to have you here as well.

There's no other change on the committee.

I'll turn to our witnesses from the Canada Infrastructure Bank. We have Frédéric Duguay, executive vice-president and chief legal information officer.

Thank you very much for joining us today. I believe you're dialing in from Toronto.

We also have Steven Robins, executive vice-president, portfolio and strategic projects, also by video conference.

I believe there's an opening statement from Mr. Duguay.

You have about five minutes for that, and then we'll turn to questions. We will endeavour to keep you here for just an hour. Thank you for your patience, as we were voting today on the economic update.

[Ron McKinnon, Liberal, Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Chair, we don't see the guests on the screen.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

We will work on that in the meantime. Is it okay if I begin, Mr. McKinnon?

Mr. Duguay, you have the floor, please, for about five minutes.

[Frédéric Duguay, Executive Vice President and Chief Legal and Information Officer, Canada Infrastructure Bank]

Good afternoon, Chair and honourable members.

Thank you for the invitation to address the committee in relation to its consideration of the Public Accounts of Canada 2024 and the Public Accounts of Canada 2025.

My name is Frédéric Duguay, and I am the executive vice-president and chief legal and information officer at the Canada Infrastructure Bank, or CIB. I'm joined today by my colleague Steven Robins, the executive vice-president of portfolio and strategic projects.

The CIB was created to help get infrastructure projects unstuck and to build more, faster. Through its flexible financing, it can address market and affordability gaps that get in the way of important projects moving forward.

Unlike a granting program, the CIB is a repayable investment tool. We make disciplined, commercial investments designed to crowd in private and institutional capital, lower the overall cost of infrastructure and get paid back, so that funds can be reinvested into new projects. The CIB operates under an independent board of directors with accountability to Parliament exercised through the minister, including through the corporate planning process.

Since 2020, the CIB has consistently invested $3 billion to $4 billion annually, and we expect this pace to continue given the critical importance of infrastructure to Canada's economic future. This pace of investments was confirmed by the PBO in a 2025 report, which concluded that the CIB is on track to reach $37 billion in financial closes by the end of fiscal 2029-30.

Today, we've made loans to 108 projects that have a total project value of $55 billion. We have projects in every province and territory, and our pipeline is healthy. These projects support more than 315,000 Canadian jobs and other downstream domestic benefits for Canadian companies, workers and supply chains. There are 11 completed projects, and this number is growing every quarter.

For every project it finances, the CIB looks at the public benefits that new infrastructure delivers to Canadians, such as growing the economy, closing the indigenous infrastructure gap and diversifying trade corridors.

The CIB funds a variety of projects. Some examples include a rail terminal in Alberta's industrial heartland to help move goods to Canada's west coast and onward to international markets; a wind turbine and energy storage system in Nunavut to get an island community off diesel; and a biomass plant in a remote first nation community in the Haute-Mauricie region of northern Quebec to ensure long-term energy security and economic development.

Budget 2025 increased the CIB's allocation to $45 billion. This additional allocation will enable the CIB to continue on its ambitious program of investments in projects that deliver real benefits to Canadians. Budget 2025 also increased the CIB's indigenous investment target to $3 billion, since it surpassed the original $1-billion target.

As detailed in the 2025 public accounts, government appropriations to the CIB have nearly doubled since 2024. This reflects the fact that 80% of CIB-financed projects are currently in construction and require capital.

We expect this trend to continue as more projects ramp up construction activities. Additionally, the expansion in the CIB's mandate means that it has more opportunities to unlock further investments across the country in a broader number of sectors.

Infrastructure finance is not based on spending within a single year. Rather, investments are committed and financial agreements are finalized first, with money released over several years as construction progresses.

Since July 2024, the CIB has not required government appropriations to cover its operating costs. As repayments of our loans are received, including initial principal repayments now under way, those funds are recycled into new investments. This reinforces the CIB's financial self-sustainability and extends the investing capacity of Parliament's authorized capital over time, while minimizing the burden on taxpayers.

On an annual basis, the CIB works with one of our portfolio departments, the Department of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada, to develop a corporate plan and budget. In 2025, this process was interrupted by the prorogation of Parliament in January and the subsequent election.

Once the election was completed and a new minister was in place, the CIB and HICC worked closely to finalize the 2025-26 corporate plan, which was approved in December 2025 and tabled in Parliament in accordance with the legislative requirements under the Financial Administration Act.

I am also pleased to report that we have completed our 2026-27 corporate plan, which was approved by Treasury Board last week. This plan reflects the CIB's current mandate and aligns with the priorities of government to leverage tools like the CIB to crowd-in private capital and get more infrastructure built faster.

Thank you for your attention. Mr. Robins and I welcome your questions.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Thank you very much.

We will begin with our first round, which will consist of three members with six minutes each.

Ms. Kusie, I believe you're kicking things off for us.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

Mr. Duguay, the July 2025 Parliamentary Budget Officer's report on the Canadian Infrastructure Bank states, “The CIB is not expected to reach its disbursement goals in any sector by 2027-28.” Is that acceptable to you?

[Frédéric Duguay]

We accept the findings from the PBO's reports. As I said in my opening remarks, we have over $18 billion, to date, in investment commitments. In the report, the PBO also acknowledged that we would reach $37 billion in financial closes by 2029-30. That's above the $35-billion appropriation that was initially approved in 2017.

You have to recognize that, as we deploy capital, we provide capital to projects, generally, over an availability period that will, on average, be around five years. As projects are built, our capital gets deployed over that time. In identifying that gap, the PBO report doesn't necessarily recognize the difference between when capital is committed on reaching financial close and when capital is deployed over the life cycle of a project. As I said, this generally takes five or six years, in terms of project construction.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

The report also states, “Since the CIB was established, two-thirds of partner funding has come from public-sector partners.” That means two out of three project dollars have come from one form of government or another.

The former chair of the Canada Infrastructure Bank, now the Clerk of the Privy Council, Michael Sabia, claimed that for “every dollar of federal commitment [there is] four or five dollars” waiting to come from the private sector. We know from the PBO that this hasn't been the case. Why has this private investment not come yet?

[Frédéric Duguay]

In our annual report—and I can also let Mr. Robins speak to this—we measure capital deployment and attraction of private sector capital through two horizons. At the time we reached financial close, as the PBO notes, the CIB's capital is one source of capital, generally as part of the capital stack of a project, which may include not only government grants, but also funding from the private sector. On that metric, we're over a 1:1 ratio.

We also measure the long-term enabled capital with respect to a particular project. This might be the right segue to turn it over to Mr. Robins. He can provide details on how we measure the capital that's enabled in a project throughout the life cycle of an investment.

[Steven Robins, Executive Vice President, Portfolio and Strategic Projects, Canada Infrastructure Bank]

Just to expand on what my colleague Mr. Duguay said, on every single project we start by measuring the CIB's investment and the private sector investment into that project. However, over time, the private sector pays us back. There's an evolution in how much private capital is in the project, from when we first start construction through the life of that project. As my colleague said, as of right now, there's more than one dollar of private sector money in every project that the CIB has invested.

Further, we commissioned an independent study to look at the enabled private capital. My colleague talked about the example of the short-line rail terminal in the Alberta industrial heartland. The explicit goal of that project is to facilitate new investment in industrial activity around the Alberta industrial heartland, which would not be able to access global markets absent improved rail connections. When you look at not just the capital that is going into the infrastructure project but also the private sector investment that's enabled by those investments, that study found that more than four dollars of that enabled investment were coming from every single CIB investment.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

We're currently studying the 2024-25 public accounts, which show that the Canada Infrastructure Bank has received billions of dollars from the federal government, and continues to yearly. However, your most recent quarterly financial report shows that despite billions in public money being spent, the bank has completed just 11 total projects. This June will mark nine years since the bank was founded by this Liberal government. Do you believe completing just 11 projects in nine years shows value for money for Canadians?

[Frédéric Duguay]

As I mentioned earlier, we have over 108 projects in which we've reached financial close. Over 80 of those 108 projects are currently in active construction. As the member points out, 11 have reached a completed milestone and are in active operation.

The life cycle of an infrastructure project, in its construction, essentially takes multiple years. As I said earlier, a general availability period for the construction of a project will be five or six years, on average. We are seeing these numbers trend upward every quarter. It's currently 11 and it will continue to grow, quarter by quarter, as those 108 projects, in which we've received financial close, reach a fully completed construction milestone.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Thank you very much, Ms. Kusie.

Up next is Mr. Osborne.

You have six minutes, please.

[Tom Osborne, Liberal, Cape Spear, NL]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Can you tell us about the interlink between the Canada Infrastructure Bank and the Major Projects Office? How do they work together?

[Frédéric Duguay]

I'll let Mr. Robins take this question. He's more involved in these discussions than I am.

[Steven Robins]

Thank you for the question.

We work very closely with the Major Projects Office, as identified in the statement of priorities and accountabilities that was issued to the CIB earlier this year. We prioritize investments in projects that have been referred to the Major Projects Office.

What that looks like on a day-to-day basis is that the Major Projects Office is working to ensure a coordinated federal presence on those projects, looking to ensure that they have a clear path to securing regulatory approvals and defining the projects. The CIB works closely as a source of financial expertise with the Major Projects Office in order to assess the overall economics of the project and think about how our tools can support getting that project into construction, becoming part of the 89 projects we have across the country under construction.

We're seeing results from that so far. As you may have seen, we announced an investment in the port of Montreal's Contrecoeur expansion terminal. It's a loan from the CIB to support expansion of container shipping on the east coast, so that businesses have reliable access to global markets and aren't reliant on shipping through U.S. ports.

We announced a loan to Nouveau Monde Graphite, another project that's been referred to the Major Projects Office, to enable them to proceed with construction on a critical minerals project outside Montreal. We're working very closely on a number of projects across the Arctic, such as the Grays Bay port and road, which we're supporting with our project acceleration initiative. It provides early-stage capital to these projects to help them become shovel-ready.

[Tom Osborne, Liberal, Cape Spear, NL]

Thank you.

In terms of the port of Montreal, can you expand on the economic benefit and the number of jobs that will be created from the investment in the project? What does it mean in terms of fiscal advantage and in terms of international trade? What will this expansion do for the economy of not only Montreal but also the eastern region, I guess, and Canada as a whole?

[Steven Robins]

I'll take your question in three parts.

The first benefit that is coming from this project is the construction. I don't have in front of me the number of jobs that we estimate that construction will support, but $2 billion-plus of construction will create significant employment for construction trades workers and significant demand for those workers in the greater Montreal area.

The second benefit is around the fiscal benefit that you speak to. The CIB has made a loan that is repayable and charges interest in that project. What that means is that, over time, users of that port terminal who pay charges to get their containers lifted off the ship or to use the port will generate revenue that is used to repay the CIB's loan. Now, the private sector won't provide a loan like that, because the timing of when those ships arrive and how quickly demand ramps up are uncertain. What the CIB's financing is willing to do is be patient in terms of the timing of when that demand growth happens and to be repaid as it materializes. That's what's enabling the project to proceed.

Finally, I want to speak to the broader economic benefits that this project provides. Think about the value of improved container terminals both for Canadians—from an affordability perspective as they think about the ability to access goods and services from global markets—but also for local firms that are thinking about serving the world and diversifying to new markets. They need reliable access to trade and to container ports that have clear delivery timelines and speedy flows and are cost-effective and efficient. That's part of what the Contrecoeur project is enabling. It allows the greater Montreal area and eastern Canada to attract new businesses, to trade with the world and to not rely on using U.S. seaports.

[Tom Osborne, Liberal, Cape Spear, NL]

What does the risk assessment look like in terms of the port of Montreal expansion?

[Steven Robins]

It's a significant project. As we think about the risk that the CIB is taking, it's all around the timing of our repayment. What that looks like is that there's going to be a period of time, as my colleague has mentioned, where the container terminal is under construction. It's not earning revenues while the terminal's under construction—there are no users yet. We're willing, unlike other investors, to wait. Then, there's going to be a period while that container terminal ramps up, while shipping lines decide if they should serve Montreal, Halifax or U.S. seaports. As that demand ramps up, that's when our repayment kicks in. As the container terminal fills up, we'll get paid back faster and faster, and as that money comes back, we'll recycle it into other projects that support Canadian economic growth.