Transport Committee on March 10th, 2015

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

So you're not in favour of having CN here?

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

I would love to have CN here, sir—

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Okay—

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

—but I want the regulator here too, not just the regulated. I want the regulator here. Let's get the folks—

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Mr. McGuinty, that part of it is for the business meeting that we're going to be having on Thursday.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Great, then let's bring it forward.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

So today you're not in favour—

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

No, sir.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Okay, you have your answer.

Madam Minister, thank you very much for being here.

And Mr. Lapointe, Mr. Lévesque, and Ms. Kinney, thank you very much.

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Thank you very much everybody.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

We're going to suspend for five minutes.

Okay, we are ready to continue our meeting.

First of all I'd like to welcome Minister Lebel. Thank you very much. And we have Ms. Boileau, Mr. Lévesque, and Ms. Laroche. Thank you to all of you for being here.

Without further ado, Mr. Lebel, we'll turn it over to you.

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Minister of Infrastructure]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, committee members. It's a pleasure to see all of you again, and I am looking forward to continuing to work with you.

I welcome the opportunity to outline the 2015-16 main estimates for infrastructure, communities, the federal bridges in Montreal, and the economic development agency of Canada for the region of Quebec.

I am joined today, like you said, by senior officials from Infrastructure Canada: deputy minister Louis Lévesque; chief financial officer, Darlene Boileau; associate deputy minister, Yazmine Laroche; Monsieur Marc Lemieux, from CEDQ, I have the honour to be with a lot of people from the department I have the honour to represent.

I am accompanied by these people to show you how we are working hard for the Canadian population. We have achieved a lot since our appearance before this committee this time last year, demonstrating that our Conservative government support for infrastructure remains stronger than ever. This is evident in the efforts put toward implementing the new Building Canada plan, and in our commitment to ensure that the new bridge for the St. Lawrence, one of the leading infrastructure projects in North America, is completed by 2018.

These two initiatives account for the lion's share of our planned spending, and I am pleased that we are here to seek funding that will be applied towards projects supported by these great initiatives.

As you know, the Government of Canada has made unprecedented investments in infrastructure. Since we took office, Canada has consistently ranked at the top of the G-7 in infrastructure investment as a percentage of the GDP. It's quite a contrast from the Liberal years when Canada was sitting at the bottom of the group.

With those record investments, we have been able to reduce the average age of public infrastructure to its lowest level since the 1980s. And with $75 billion dedicated for public infrastructure, we will continue on this momentum. We will continue to invest in key and strategic infrastructure to support Canada's growth and economic development.

Clearly, this investment includes $53 billion over 10 years for the new building Canada plan, the largest and longest federal infrastructure plan in our nation's history.

It is through this historical plan and under the federal gas tax fund that we will make billions of dollars available to municipalities in 2015 and support thousands of new or existing projects addressing local priorities across the country.

Proponents across the country have begun submitting business cases for review and have started identifying projects for funding under the various components of the plan.

For example, earlier this year, we announced close to $44 million in federal funding for key upgrades to the Port of Montreal under the national infrastructure component of the new building Canada fund.

We have also done a lot of work with our partners under the provincial-territorial infrastructure component.

In fact, projects worth more than $5 billion in total have been identified.

You may also recall that we have dedicated $1 billion to the provincial-territorial infrastructure component of the small communities fund for projects in communities with fewer than 100,000 residents.

I would now like to draw your attention to one of the largest public infrastructure projects under way in North America, the new bridge for the St. Lawrence corridor project, and how we plan on spending requested funds over the next fiscal year. I would like to take this opportunity to provide a status update on the project.

I am pleased to report that the project continues to progress very well and everything is on track. The year 2015 in particular will be a landmark year with construction to begin in late spring or early summer.

Let me remind you that the project is being carried out as a public-private partnership to ensure that taxpayers receive the best value for money and that the project is on time.

We are currently in the request for proposals stage. Three eligible consortia provided their technical submissions in mid-February. They have until April 1, 2015, to submit their financial proposals. Once we have these proposals, we will name the project's selected proponent.

Our Conservative government has met all of its timelines in preparation for construction. For instance, in September 2014, we completed the construction of a temporary causeway on Île des Soeurs. Not only was the work completed three months ahead of schedule, but the cost was also $25 million less than anticipated, which once again shows the diligence and excellence of the teams working on the project.

In January 2015 we also launched major work with Hydro-Québec to move a segment of a transmission line in Brossard to enable construction of the new bridge for the St. Lawrence. We are committed to having the new bridge for the St. Lawrence in service by 2018 and to having the remainder of the corridor project completed by 2020. The project is expected to create 30,000 jobs, and will have a positive impact on the local, regional, and national economies.

Mr. Chair, we are also seeking approximately $1.5 billion to support new or ongoing projects being funded under existing funding programs and agreements. These include projects under the Building Canada fund's major infrastructure component, and for continued work on the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway.

Of course, I also have the honour of serving as Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, so every region in Quebec is served by our department. The Economic Development Agency of Canada's mandate is to support the economic growth of every region of Quebec, and we spare no effort in doing so.

With your permission, I will give you a few examples and present a few figures which clearly illustrate the Economic Development Agency of Canada's activities since 2006. We are talking about 5,326 projects funded, nearly $2.5 billion paid out in contributions by the federal government, and more than $9 billion in total planned investments with partners.

The priority of our Conservative government remains job creation, economic growth, and long-term prosperity. CEDQ's action is very much aligned with it. The department encourages the start-up and growth of businesses by helping them to become more competitive, more productive and innovative, and to get access to new markets. CEDQ also assists regions of Quebec that are seeking to mobilize and attract new investments that will increase their prosperity. CEDQ is present in every region of Quebec through its 12 offices, but it also has more particular focus on regions experiencing slower economic growth.

CEDQ's advisers are in direct contact with SMEs, key economic actors, and organizations to offer them guidance and financial support. Through its main funding program, the Quebec economic development program, CEDQ also contributes to strengthening the economy of communities and regions that face specific issues through targeted and time-limited help.

CEDQ maintains its efforts to support affected communities through the Canadian initiative for the economic diversification of communities reliant on chrysotile, launched in June 2013 with $50 million budgeted over seven years. That's over seven years; for sure we'll see this part in the budget again, because it's over seven years. It's to help out communities and businesses in

the Appalaches and the Sources RCM.

So far 17 projects have received funding; $6.5 million has been spent; $25 million more is currently projected to be spent; and $19.5 million will be reserved for this region in future. Our team is still working on the ground day to day.

In July 2013, following the disaster in Lac-Mégantic, we launched an economic recovery initiative for the economic revitalization and reconstruction of the town.

With an envelope of $35 million over seven years, the initiative includes the following three components: reconstruction assistance of up to $20 million; up to $10 million in direct assistance to businesses and NPOs; and assistance in the form of two investment funds of up to $5 million, managed by the Mégantic region Community Futures Development Corporation (CFDC).

I repeat, we are talking about $35 million over seven years. You will see this again next year, because not all the money will be invested this year. We are talking about next year, but we know that if the money that was supposed to be spent has not been used, there is a seven-year period. I am sure I will hear about it again, but that being said, we are talking about seven years.

To date, 16 projects have received funding. Over $15 million has been paid out in contributions for planned investments of nearly $35 million. Of course, the two program investments will be invested in the regions for which the money had been earmarked. A dedicated team is on site and is working closely with local partners to make sure that their needs are clearly understood, to guide them through the economic development process and to identify potential funding options.

In light of the false information circulated recently, I would like to stress once more that the funds are spent or carried over to subsequent years based on needs. The funds carried over are primarily from projects whose scope or timeline was below the forecast, projects that extend over several years.

I'm very proud of our progress in building infrastructure projects that are delivering real results for Canadians. The officials I have the honour to work with and I will be pleased to answer your questions about any aspect of our main estimates that will enable us to continue this record of achievement.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Thank you, Minister.

We'll now go to questioning with Mr. Mai for seven minutes.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for joining us today, Mr. Minister.

You mentioned the Champlain Bridge issue, as we like to call it. You talked about three consortia. There were six consortia initially and now there are only three. Can you tell us what the selection criteria were for these three consortia? Why have they been chosen?

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Chair, I will give the floor to Mr. Lévesque. You will understand that I am not familiar with all the details in the call for tenders process for the consortia.

One of the reasons why I am not familiar with them is that, from the outset, I have kept my distance from any process that involved making a selection. To go from six consortia to three, clearly, very specific criteria had to be met.

Even today, the teams that do the evaluations are hard at work. I will ask Mr. Lévesque to tell you what he has to say about the criteria.

[Louis Lévesque]

Basically, the criteria had to do with technical skills, financial strength, construction expertise and so on. Initially, there were six groups. The objective of this exercise was to reduce the number to three because, in the next step—the request for proposals that is being implemented right now—these groups had to invest a substantial amount of money to bring the proposals to the level of sophistication required for their submission.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Is your analysis public? There is nothing on the Public Works and Government Services Canada website about the criteria and evaluations. Is that normal?

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Mai, are you saying that you think we need to post on a website the rules and criteria used to evaluate the consortia that submit a service proposal?

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Yes.

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

A company will know exactly what another company did. There is a process. The companies that submit a proposal know the criteria, but in terms of the process and how many teams there are, I will ask Mr. Lévesque the question.

How many teams are there? How does the process work in terms of the number of teams?

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Minister, it is called transparency. We are asking that the process be transparent. You yourself said that the call for tenders was open, public and transparent. However, when we ask you for the criteria, you don't want to make them public.

[Louis Lévesque]

We have to maintain a balance between transparency and the financial interests of taxpayers. The objective of the P3 process was to encourage those who make submissions to do as much as they can with as little as possible.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Absolutely, but for us—

[Louis Lévesque]

We give them technical specifications, but we don't want to give them too much information on what the others are doing because we want as little collusion as possible.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

My question is just about the selection criteria.

Is job creation in Canada part of the selection criteria? Is the use of materials made in Canada part of the selection criteria? Yes or no?