Evidence of meeting #27 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was projects.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Catherine McKenna Liberal Ottawa Centre, ON
—who would believe that we should get more....
Do you believe that we should get more infrastructure built? Do you believe that we should crowd in the private sector to do that? Do you believe the federal government—
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Catherine McKenna Liberal Ottawa Centre, ON
—can fund every single dollar of infrastructure investment that we need to build the future we want?
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Andrew Scheer Conservative Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK
Isn't it the case that this minister and the CEO of the Canada Infrastructure Bank were so embarrassed about not being able to approve a single dollar's worth of private sector investment that they went running out and found a project that was already getting built? ITC Holdings brags on its website that all that is needed are a few servicing agreements in the U.S. to get this project built. This is a multi-billion-dollar organization.
Canadians are losing everything they've ever worked hard for—
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
Andrew Scheer Conservative Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK
—and this government decided to give $655 million in corporate welfare. It's disgusting.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Vance Badawey
Thank you, Mr. Scheer.
Minister McKenna, could we have a short answer?
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Catherine McKenna Liberal Ottawa Centre, ON
Our focus has always been on getting more infrastructure built by crowding in the private sector, which is good for Canadians.
Once again, I would go back to the Minister of Energy for Ontario, who talked about the importance of this public-private partnership in getting critical infrastructure built that brings greater value to Ontarians. Those are jobs at a time that we need jobs. That's climate action at a time when we need climate action. That's lower costs to consumers at a time when I'm sure consumers appreciate lower costs.
I'm not embarrassed by that. I think that is good.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Vance Badawey
Mr. Scheer, mute yourself, please.
Minister, continue. You have about five to 10 seconds.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Catherine McKenna Liberal Ottawa Centre, ON
I think the Canada Infrastructure Bank has a really important role in getting more infrastructure built. There's a limit to the dollars that the government has. There is a private sector that has money to invest in infrastructure that is good for Canadians. We're going to continue to do that by working with the Canada Infrastructure Bank.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Vance Badawey
Thank you, Minister.
We're now going to move on to the Liberals. We have Mr. Fillmore.
Mr. Fillmore, you have the floor for five minutes.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Andy Fillmore Liberal Halifax, NS
Thank you, Chair.
Minister, it's wonderful to see you here with the deputy minister. Thank you both for being here and for all your work.
What a time to be in the business of building communities in Canada right now. It's a generational investment in communities, reaching into cities and towns across the country, improving lives of current and future generations. Thank you for your leadership on this through the Infrastructure Bank, getting amazing traction and so many other great outcomes. Thank you for all of that.
Now I want to ask you about active transportation.
Active transportation advocates like you and me have seen what's happened during COVID. Communities have turned to active transportation as a new way of being outdoors in a safe way, of using public space in better and more interesting ways to get around their communities and to be healthy outdoors.
Could you talk to us about the work you're doing that is enhancing what Canadians want from their active transportation in the future?
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Catherine McKenna Liberal Ottawa Centre, ON
First of all, thank you very much to my parliamentary secretary.
I know you've worked so hard. We launched Canada's first-ever active transportation strategy, which is incredibly important, but we also created a separate fund for active transportation. That really is historic, and it's a recognition that when you build public transit, you need to be also thinking about how you get the people the extra mile so they can take public transit, whether they do it by cycling or by foot or electric bike or scooter or skateboard.
I think there's been a real reflection and recognition by Canadians about how important active transportation is, how important it is to be able to get out and around by your own human power. I know when I go to municipalities across the country, rural or urban, they talk about how they want to have more cycling paths, how they want them to be safer so that more people choose cycling, how they want to get people active and how there are health benefits.
Huge kudos to you. I know you've been doing a lot of outreach on the active transportation strategy. You're really the expert on this. You did a really good job of advocating with so many advocates across the country who recognize the importance of cycling, active transportation, and people being able to get around, including if you're in a wheelchair. We need to make things more accessible to everyone.
I'm really excited about this. I know there is tons of excitement about the new active transportation strategy and fund that you're working on.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Andy Fillmore Liberal Halifax, NS
Thank you for that.
The government was able to buttress the national active transportation strategy with the $400-million active transportation fund. We then engaged Canadians across the country to work on what the criteria should be for that fund. I wonder if you can share with the committee a little about where you see that $400 million landing in communities and in what kinds of projects.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Catherine McKenna Liberal Ottawa Centre, ON
I think there are so many opportunities. I see them in my own community of Ottawa, where active transportation has made a real difference. Eighty per cent of Ottawans will live within five kilometres of the new LRT, but we need to move people over those five kilometres, and we need to do it in a way that can get them there safely.
Communities across the country want people to be able to get around in active ways. A footbridge can make a huge difference in connecting communities, but it can also make people think about how they're going to walk or ride their bike to school now.
I think this is really about building communities around people. I might be stealing a line from the secretary of transportation, Pete Buttigieg, but we need cities built around people and not cars. Cars are important and we're electrifying them, but we also need to be making sure we have cycling paths, that we have other ways for folks to get around. I know Canadians are excited about that, so we're going to continue down that route.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Andy Fillmore Liberal Halifax, NS
Secretary Buttigieg borrowed that line from the great urbanist Jan Gehl, who said that if you design a city for cars, you get a city full of cars. If you design a city for people, you get a city full of people. That's what we're trying to do, trying to get Canadian communities to design themselves for people to live actively and have all the benefits that come with that: GHG reductions, public health. The evidence shows that people live longer, healthier, happier, more productive lives when they're less sedentary and more active in their lives.
Thank you for that.
There's just about a minute left. One of the things we heard about repeatedly in our cross-country engagement was this idea of equity in the provision of active transportation.
I wonder if you could touch on that and who we're trying to reach with these programs.