Amarjeet Sohi

[Infrastructure, May 29th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure the hon. member and the House that we are structuring the Canada infrastructure bank to function in a way that it will be accountable to Parliament. It will report to Parliament on an annual basis, at the same time making sure it is a crown corporation, arm's length from the day-to-day intervention of the government, making decisions that are in the best interest of Canadians, and building infrastructure that Canadian communities need, the infrastructure that has been denied by the previous government's underinvestment for a decade.

[Infrastructure, May 29th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, last week was a very good week for Canadian municipalities. We announced 750 projects, more projects in one week than the previous government did in four years combined. That is delivering for Canadians. We put forward a very ambitious agenda to build and rebuild Canadian communities. That is exactly what we are doing.

We are investing billions of dollars in community infrastructure, to grow our economy and enable our municipalities to deliver on the expected—

[Infrastructure, May 29th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, for the last couple of weeks, the member of the opposition and his party have been criticizing us that the bank is too close to private capital. Today, he is saying that it will be too close to government. We have struck the right balance. We believe that the bank will be at arm's length but accountable to Parliament. It will be able to make a decision on its own, ensuring at the same time that the projects it puts forward are in the public interest and are best for Canadians.

[Infrastructure, May 29th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, we consulted municipalities, provinces, and territories before the creation and introduction of the legislation for the creation of the infrastructure bank. What we heard from our partners is that despite the historic investment we are making in infrastructure, there will still remain an infrastructure deficit. We want to mobilize private capital to ensure that when municipalities need infrastructure, they have the infrastructure to grow the economy, create jobs for the middle class, and provide opportunities for those who work hard each and every day to be part of the middle class.

[Infrastructure, May 19th, 2017]

Madam Speaker, as the hon. member mentioned, I was honoured to visit Nunavut and announce, alongside the territorial government and the hon. member, $230 million in joint funding for nine projects that will help 19 communities deal with waste management systems, improve waste-water quality, and make further investments to improve water quality in those communities.

We are very proud to be making investments in Nunavut, and we will continue to work with our partners to build stronger communities in the north.

[Infrastructure, May 19th, 2017]

Madam Speaker, I can assure the hon. member and the House that we will do the proper due diligence before we undertake any project, by the bank, by the private sector, by the municipal sector, by the provincial sector, people who will be involved in building that infrastructure.

Our goal is to make sure that we protect the public interest, to make sure that public dollars are protected, while we build the infrastructure that is required by our Canadian communities.

[Infrastructure, May 19th, 2017]

Madam Speaker, for almost a decade the municipal sector was neglected by the previous government. Our goal is to put forward an infrastructure plan that will help rebuild Canadian communities from coast to coast to coast.

The creation of the infrastructure bank would allow us to build more infrastructure by mobilizing private capital. That would help us to build and transform infrastructure that our communities need and deserve.

[Infrastructure, May 17th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, we are engaging through our partners. One thing we have learned is that for the last decade the Conservative government underfunded infrastructure. We have a huge infrastructure deficit in our Canadian communities.

We are making historic investments of $186 billion over the next decade. Despite that, there still remains or will remain an infrastructure deficit. Our goal is to mobilize private capital to build the necessary infrastructure, to grow our economy, create jobs, and support our municipalities in helping—

[Infrastructure, May 17th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to tell the hon. member that he is absolutely wrong. The bank will shift the risk to the private sector appropriate to the investment that it makes. Every deal will be structured in the public interest. We want to make sure the public interest is protected.

That is why we want to attract the right people for the CEO, the board members, and the board chair. We encourage everyone to apply so that we can have the right expertise to make sure that we structure our deals in such a way that they are in the public interest, that we build more infrastructure that our communities need—

[Infrastructure, May 17th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the pension funds that I talked about are where Canadians are investing for their retirement. That is the money we want to use to build the infrastructure that our Canadian communities need. I really do not understand why the member of the opposition is so much against organizations like Caisse de dépôt, which a very credible organization, or CPPIB, the teachers fund, or IMCO. These are credible organizations that invest on behalf on Canadians, creating jobs in our own country to help us grow our own economy. What is wrong with that?

They may have issues with private investors investing. We do not, because we know—