Transport Committee on March 23rd, 2017

[Dr. Marc Fortin, Assistant Deputy Minister, Program Operations, Office of Infrastructure of Canada]

If I may, just to complement that response, in terms of urban versus remote communities and all that, in the last two years more than 78% of the money that was spent went to communities with populations of under 25,000. But we can provide you with more of a breakdown later.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

I would like to see that, because I can tell you right now that I would hazard that the rural communities across Canada are saying that they are not receiving their fair share. There are indeed projects that are going unfunded and not being prescribed to.

I have one last question. In—

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

You have only 15 seconds. That's not sufficient time.

Mr. Sikand.

[Gagan Sikand, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you for being here this morning. Thus far, ridings like mine, and Mississauga in general, have really benefited from the investment in infrastructure, specifically when it comes to public transit, but I was also happy to see that in this budget, $29.9 billion will be spent over 11 years to support social infrastructure. This will require productive consultation with the provinces and municipalities.

Could you please provide us with some insights on these consultations, how they've gone thus far and how they'll continue in the future?

[Yazmine Laroche]

Social infrastructure is I think a good example of the collaboration and the collaborative approach that we take, not just between us and provinces, territories, and municipalities, but also with other government departments. The social infrastructure category is vast. It includes housing, which of course is under the purview of Canada Mortgage and Housing. There's a homelessness component as well. There's an early childhood learning component, which is under Minister Duclos' purview as well. We work very closely with our partners in other departments.

As I mentioned earlier, we have a long tradition of engagement with provincial, territorial, and municipal colleagues, and with organizations like the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, to really understand where the pressures and the priorities are when it comes to infrastructure. You're probably aware that the Federation of Canadian Municipalities has been asking for a number of years for greater investment in social and affordable housing. I think we see that in yesterday's budget.

[Gagan Sikand, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

I actually have three co-ops in my riding, so I do appreciate that as well.

I will split the rest of my time with my colleague Vance.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Mr. Badawey.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I do appreciate Mr. Doherty's question as it relates to the way the money is going out, and of course the priority, when you roll the money out, that you place on local community needs. Of course, with that, we are looking at performance measures, as we move down the road, to see what the outcomes and of course the returns on those investments are. I appreciate that. That's, in fact, exactly what this government is looking at doing.

The question, Madam Chair, through you, is this. While we look at rolling out the infrastructure dollars, will the ministry continue to support community based smart city community improvement and community growth planning?

[Yazmine Laroche]

As you may know, in last year's budget some funding was set aside for us to partner with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. It is actually launching an initiative that's going to focus on asset management at the local level. It's designed to do exactly that. It's to work with municipalities to help them improve their own capacity to plan for longer-term infrastructure investments.

You mentioned smart cities. The government has made a commitment to a smart cities challenge, which is just being developed now, which is intended to help cities and communities across the country to find ways to leverage technology to address some of their pressing concerns.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Coming from a municipal background myself, I appreciate that. When we see what the gas tax has done by having that sustainable funding envelope available for infrastructure works, albeit attached to road, wastewater, water, and sewer, it's refreshing now to see an additional funding envelope—and we hope it's sustainable—that will then move forward towards other infrastructure. It may attach itself to past, old, or existing infrastructure, but equally as important, as municipalities move forward, is whether this new funding envelope will attach itself, when it comes to smart cities, to new infrastructure investments and then further overall economic, social, and environmental strategies. Do you see that happening?

[Yazmine Laroche]

Yes, I think so.

Certainly the advantage of a long-term plan is that it allows municipalities, provinces, and territories to think through not just their current but their future infrastructure needs. The fact that phase two of the infrastructure plan is over 11 years allows for greater planning and strategizing over where the priorities are going to be.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My last question has to do with what you mentioned earlier about asset management. That's the last component of executing the plan. Once we have the asset in place, we not only need to manage it through its life cycle with repairs and maintenance but we also need to prepare financially by putting a reserve aside to eventually replace it.

Do you find that this program is also going to discipline municipalities to have those asset management plans in place to therefore not saddle future generations with the burden the way this generation has been saddled?

[Yazmine Laroche]

I think that was one of the reasons the Federation of Canadian Municipalities came forward with this proposal. There are some communities across the country that are doing fantastic work in terms of asset management, but it may be a bit uneven. This is a way of making sure people have access to the tools they need so they can do that kind of effective long-term planning.

I would just add that I think the recognition that there was an issue with what we call “state of good repair” was one of the reasons the first phase of infrastructure funding announced in last year's budget really focused on these critical areas in public transit and in water and waste water. The focus was on having a state of good repair and bringing existing infrastructure up to a satisfactory level.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much, Ms. Laroche.

Ms. Laverdière, go ahead for six minutes, please, and welcome to the committee this morning.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I am very pleased to be here.

I am going to go quickly because I have several questions.

Thank you for your presentation, Ms. Laroche.

I have a question for you about the Windsor-Detroit Bridge, which will only be completed in 2022. What are the reasons for that delay, and what are the associated costs?

[Yazmine Laroche]

Thank you for the question.

My colleagues from the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority are with me via video conference. I am going to turn to Mr. Cautillo in a moment.

I am not certain that there will be costs associated with this delay. The request for proposals process is underway and we do not yet know the proponents' response. I am going to ask Mr. Cautillo to answer your question.

[Michael Cautillo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority]

Thank you for the question, Madam Chair.

As was mentioned, we issued the request for proposals, in this case on November 10, 2016, and are currently in the middle of a procurement process. We're going to go for 12 months until we get the financial submissions, and then we're giving ourselves six months after that to evaluate and get approvals. At that time we will be able to state more definitively what the construction timing and sequencing is going to be and be able to confirm a planned opening date.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

I think you are also planning to install toll stations.

What kind of revenue do you expect to generate? How will the tolls be determined?

[Michael Cautillo]

The toll rates themselves will be competitively set. The overall revenues garnered from this operation will be a combination or a function of the number of vehicles that will use the crossing; the type of vehicles and the percentage, for instance, of commercial vehicles versus passenger vehicles; and the toll rate itself.

Rest assured that the toll rates themselves will be competitively set.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Lachance, I have the pleasure and the honour of representing the riding of Laurier—Sainte-Marie where the Jacques-Cartier Bridge ends, and where the main means of transportation citizens use are walking, public transit and cycling. What are your plans? Are you studying concrete options that would allow for the opening of a cycle path on the Jacques-Cartier Bridge in the winter?

[Claude Lachance, Senior Director, Administration, Jacques-Cartier and Champlain Bridges Incorporated]

Thank you for your question.

Next winter, we will launch a pilot project to install a heated sidewalk over a certain distance. We will evaluate that and afterwards we will be able to see what we can do, technically speaking, to extend the cycling season.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

I have a question that is related to the previous one.

If you are installing a heated path on only part of the bridge, how will people be able to make it over the other part?

[Claude Lachance]

We simply want to see how the surface will react following the work.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Thank you very much.

I would like to address the representatives of the Office of Infrastructure of Canada. You asked for authorization to spend $600,000 to support the Gordie Howe International Bridge team project. I would like some details on the activities you intend to support. What are the specific plans for that investment?

[Yazmine Laroche]

Thank you for your question.

As you may know the Department of Transport was responsible for the Gordie Howe International Bridge until last year, when responsibility for that bridge was transferred to us. This amount allows us to pay the team that was transferred to us.

That team manages the relationship with the crown corporation. It is also responsible for the purchase of lands on the Canadian side and as I mentioned it has to ensure good relations not only with the crow corporation, but also with the State of Michigan, which is a key partner, and with the City of Detroit. The Department of Transport was responsible for all of that previously.