Sure, and I would argue that our economy is not operating at its potential capacity in respect to productivity growth. We have productivity growth that has lagged that of many of our economic competitors. Our per capita GDP growth is abysmal. It lags that of the rest of our competitors in the G7. We like to talk about the top line numbers, but when you actually drill down into the per capita numbers, our economic growth is actually quite abysmal.
From the government's own projected aggregate GDP, taking into account population growth of about 1.2% per annum, the most recent numbers for which data is available, you're looking at per capita GDP growth of about half a percent for the next three years. That's not very strong economic growth, particularly in light of the massive inflation of assets on the balance sheet, and particularly in housing in the last number of years. It's no wonder that Canadians are taking on ever-increasingly high levels of household debt to finance their lifestyles, because they're struggling to pay the bills.
The other thing I'm wondering about with respect to infrastructure is that Statistics Canada has consistently reported, most recently last November, that commuting times are getting longer and longer. TD Bank, a number of years ago, did a report on lost productivity as a result of congestion and traffic jams. I think, from what I recall, they said that the annual cost in the GTA alone is in the billions of dollars in lost productivity growth. The problem of commuting and congestion is getting worse; commute times are up in the most recent StatsCan data. So there is a need to fund this infrastructure, and to do it now, rather than five to 10 years from now, setting aside the fact that we are maybe at capacity on industrial production and other measures because of this productivity problem that we have, lost productivity.
One of the things you mentioned, and I think Professor Dahlby also alluded to it in his opening remarks, was the lack of data. I think that's what the Parliamentary Budget Officer is also encountering: we just don't have data. The Budget 2018 documents are incomplete when it comes to the government's own infrastructure projections. Only half the projects in phase one—$14.4 billion—can be identified. A quarter of the money is lapsing in legacy and new infrastructure programs. We just don't have the data. Canadians don't have the data. You don't have the data, and I don't know how we can embark on a $100-plus billion 10-year infrastructure plan without data, without planning. It seems to me that we need a lot more transparency from the government as to what its plans are, and it needs to get on top of this file.
Maybe you could just comment on those two general issues: dollars spent today rather than five to 10 years from now, and the lack of data.