Government Operations committee  I really can't speak to the procurement that was used in the days I wasn't an employee here and wasn't here for that. What I can tell you is we do have a really clear procurement policy that we follow, similar to other Crown corporations, and the government itself, I'm sure. We have—

Government Operations committee  That's correct.

Government Operations committee  That's correct, at different times.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. As introduced, my name is Ehren Cory. I am the chief executive officer at the Canada Infrastructure Bank, or CIB. I'm pleased to be with you today and to accept the invitation to act as a witness in your study of federal government consulting contracts awarded to McKinsey & Company.

Transport committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Transport committee  I think my earlier comment was that I think we are headed in the right direction. What I mean by that is that a lot of early groundwork was necessary for priming the pump on projects, creating a real funnel and pipeline of projects. As I said, we're not going to have time to do it, probably, but we have now, I think, a really great set of investments, from nation-building transit across multiple provinces to transmission lines that connect provinces, trade corridors that connect us both within Canada and outside, but also a whole number of pragmatic, shorter-term projects that will lead to real investment and that have started to do so.

Transport committee  I really appreciate the question. Of course I think that infrastructure needs to start with communities, and so I thank the member for the question. Unfortunately, many communities have infrastructure projects that they have been desperately in need of and that have not happened for decades, in many cases.

Transport committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll tackle a few things quickly. First, I appreciate the member's question. Let me be very clear on people. As of today, we have precisely 74 employees at the bank. I rounded it to 80 employees, but we have 74 employees. About 30% of them, 23 employees, are qualified as fully bilingual.

Transport committee  This is an important question. It is often a source of confusion. It is crystal clear: We have no mandate whatsoever to privatize public assets. We work with the owners of those assets to deliver, and we're actually.... The goal of engaging private capital is to do two things.

Transport committee  To be clear, if I may just add, there is, of course, also Government of Alberta funding provided to that project, the three parties to that being the eight irrigation districts, the Government of Alberta and the CIB.

Transport committee  From the irrigation districts themselves, it was $163 million.

Transport committee  That's correct.

Transport committee  Yes, of course. Thank you. Pools of capital.... The member mentioned mutual funds and pension funds. All of it ultimately, of course, is the money of individuals, of individual investors, people who invest in their pensions, who save money. Pension funds are no different, you know.

Transport committee  I'm actually going to ask Mr. Casola to talk a little bit more about the structure of the agreement.

Transport committee  I feel we are on the right track, and I feel the Canada Infrastructure Bank remains an incredibly important part. We're just one tool in the tool kit, but a really important part of how we're going to get more infrastructure built to the benefit of Canadians. I think the work we've done today does lay the groundwork for that, and it's really important to acknowledge that it has been critical to the long-term success of transit, transmission and clean power projects across the country.