Amarjeet Sohi

[Infrastructure, May 9th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I am amazed by the lack of understanding on the part of the hon. member.

Our infrastructure plan works in Canada. We support the municipalities to build infrastructure. We support provinces to build infrastructure. They are the ones who procure the infrastructure. They are the ones who decide how they are going to build the infrastructure. We have added an additional tool to support them in order to make sure they have the necessary tools to meet the expectations of their citizens, on whose behalf they are building that infrastructure.

I would encourage that member to actually read--

[Infrastructure, May 9th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the reason we are getting a lot of support from the municipalities and provinces for our infrastructure plan is that they have seen the impact when we do not build proper infrastructure. When we do not maintain the infrastructure we have, the economy hurts, jobs are not created, people are stuck in traffic, and people are spending more time being unproductive.

That is why we want to build more infrastructure on top of the historic investments we are making to catch up with a decade of neglect, which the previous government did not pay attention to.

[Infrastructure, May 9th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the presentation made to institutional investors is publicly available. I hope the member gets to read it.

As far as the bank is concerned, we consulted with various stakeholders. We consulted with the FCM. We consulted with the World Bank. We consulted with the IMF. We consulted with the provinces, trade unions, and businesses, because we understand that we want to have an institution that will deliver on the expectations of Canadians to build more infrastructure to grow our economy and create jobs.

[Infrastructure, May 9th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, our government understands how critical infrastructure is to grow our economy and create jobs. That is why the municipal sector, the provincial sector, and the territorial sector are supporting our plan, including the creation of the infrastructure bank, to build more new infrastructure, which was neglected by the previous government for a decade. As far as reporting is concerned, the bank will report to this Parliament on an annual basis.

[Infrastructure, May 9th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Davenport for her hard work. Our government is making historic investments to build strong, sustainable, and inclusive communities from coast to coast to coast, including $25 billion in public transit over the next 11 years. This funding will support the next generation of public transit projects, including active transportation across Canada, and we look forward to signing agreements with our partners.

[Infrastructure, May 8th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, regardless of the location of the bank, every community has the potential to benefit from the Canada infrastructure bank. We have put forward a $180-billion infrastructure plan to support communities of all sizes from coast to coast to coast. Less than 10% of that will be delivered to the infrastructure bank. The rest of the money will flow through provinces, territories, and municipalities through other agreements. We believe that infrastructure is a strong foundation for growing our economy and creating jobs for the middle class.

[Public Transit, May 8th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for Mississauga East—Cooksville for his hard work.

On May 5, our government announced more than $58 million for 57 public transit projects, alongside with the Government of Ontario and the City of Mississauga. These investments will allow the city to buy new buses and install 100 additional bus shelters to the transit service in the city.

[Infrastructure, May 8th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, we see that every Canadian municipality has the potential to benefit from the bank, regardless of where the bank is located. We will support projects that are priorities of local communities, whether it is Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Montreal, or whichever city needs to build infrastructure.

Furthermore, by engaging private capital, we will free up federal government resources to build more affordable housing, to build more child care facilities, and to build more recreational facilities, as well as supporting our rural and northern communities with $2 billion in funding that has—

[Infrastructure, May 8th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, our government understands that investing in infrastructure helps to grow the economy, create long-term growth, and jobs for Canadians from coast to coast to coast. That is why we have put forward a very ambitious agenda, including the mobilization of private capital to build more infrastructure. We understand that Canadian communities need infrastructure. They have been lacking that infrastructure. They have seen a decade of underinvestment by the previous government. We have a lot of catching up to do and that is exactly what we are doing.

[Infrastructure, May 8th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, unlike the previous government, our goal is to support our municipal and provincial entities, to support the infrastructure that they need. We have put forward an ambitious plan of more than $180 billion that we will invest. We also feel that we can do more for municipal and provincial sectors by engaging the private sector.

The hon. member may have something against private investments, but we do not. We feel that we can mobilize private capital to build more infrastructure that many Canadian communities need.