Thank you, Chair, vice-chairs, and members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. It is an honour to be with you today.
I will briefly comment on Bill C-44 as it relates to Canada's essential infrastructure.
The Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy, of which I am the director of performance, recently published a piece on assessing the risks and opportunities associated with the Canada infrastructure bank. The key premise underlying our piece is that a national infrastructure plan and strategy supported by evidence is required. This should be the first priority.
Through our work, we identified three core elements that must inform the first steps needed to build a work plan and national strategy around essential infrastructure.
First, a thorough assessment of our current infrastructure stock needs to be performed. Specifically, is this stock delivering or on track to deliver the benefits expected from them at the time they were approved?
A report by the U.K.'s National Audit Office highlighted the costs and challenges of delivering major projects in government, with a number of recurring issues affecting performance. Of the 149 major projects in the U.K. as of June 2015, with the total life-cycle cost of 511 billion pounds, successful delivery of 34% was considered to be in doubt or unachievable unless action was taken. Infrastructure investments alone are not a guarantee of infrastructure outcomes.
The second step is to conduct a strategic analysis of Canada's future infrastructure needs.
This analysis would identify the economic, social, and environmental benefits expected of infrastructure investments. It would consider factors such as demographic trends, population growth, current and projected economic activity, trade corridors and future drivers of economic growth, the environment, and any significant regional variations and need.
Finally, by understanding the condition of our current infrastructure stock and our future needs, we can identify what our infrastructure gap is relative to the future needs. This is the evidence base, at a minimum, that we feel is needed to develop a national infrastructure plan and strategy.
Currently, estimates of the national infrastructure gap in Canada range from zero to $1 trillion. While estimates always come with some uncertainty, this is a wide range by any measure, and not one on which to build a national infrastructure strategy.
Understanding where we are and where we are going is paramount. Only then can we map out the way to arrive at our destination.
In fairness, budget 2017 does identify an ambitious data initiative on Canadian infrastructure to provide the intelligence to better direct infrastructure investments. Further, the budget implementation act does identify the collection and dissemination of data to monitor and assess the state of infrastructure in Canada as one of the functions of the Canada infrastructure bank.
In our view, this initiative identified in budget 2017 and this function of the bank are precisely what is required, first and foremost, to have an evidence-based national infrastructure plan and strategy. Details on this initiative are to be announced in the coming months, and we are very much looking forward to understanding the details and timelines expected of this initiative.
Let us develop the plan first, and then put in place the right strategies and instruments, such as the bank, that are tailored to best achieve that plan.
Unfortunately, these initiatives are in the wrong order; we are putting the cart before the horse.
Thank you for your time and the opportunity to speak with you today. I look forward to answering any questions you may have.