Transport committee  No, it wouldn't change my answer.

Transport committee  We don't monitor whether provinces are following the rules in the agreements that Infrastructure Canada establishes with them. It is more the role of Infrastructure Canada to ensure that provinces and municipalities abide by the terms of the agreements that the federal government has signed with provinces and municipalities.

Transport committee  Are you referring to Budget 2017 investments or all investments? With regard to modelling, we have measures that let us determine the impact of the suite of infrastructure programs. I do not believe that our model is suitable for each individual program because some are quite large and others much smaller.

Transport committee  There are several concrete examples of how investments contribute to economic growth. First, there are the direct effects, which I mentioned in my opening remarks. For example, the construction or acquisition of infrastructure generates employment and economic activity. There is another aspect, which is more difficult to measure and which is identified more in the long term: infrastructure investments facilitate economic activity.

Transport committee  I do not know if it would speed things up significantly, but this contribution would definitely make things easier for municipalities. In fact, I believe that this would actually help the process because municipalities would have to pay less out of their own coffers. If the federal government covers a larger portion of infrastructure expenditures, municipalities will certainly be more likely to fund a smaller portion of the projects.

Transport committee  It cannot be denied that such complex measures as accountability, which are imposed on municipalities, are completely justified, in my view. They are asked to submit detailed information for a project to be approved and this creates a far greater burden for small municipalities.

Transport committee  Would that be $20 billion?

Transport committee  Yes, and that multiplier effect is relatively small because the economy is running at or slightly above capacity. There's no slack in the economy for these investments to pick up, so the multiplier effect in these instances is quite small.

Transport committee  The fact that provinces and municipalities are not incrementally spending and, to a large extent, not matching dollar for dollar but rather displacing provincial and municipal funding suggests that there might be a lack of shovel-ready projects. More likely, there may be financial constraints at the municipal and federal levels that prevent them from matching this funding or increasing the funding that they would otherwise have devoted.

Transport committee  That's something that the government could consider. I don't think I'm in the best position to speak on that, but that's a policy decision the government could indeed make.

Transport committee  Yes, and when I said there are labour shortages, that's something that is well documented. There are not that many ways to solve such a situation. Tapping into under-represented groups, you mentioned one, namely indigenous people, and there are older workers, disabled persons and the immigrant population are the obvious ways to address labour shortages.

Transport committee  My intent, given the amounts that are at stake, would be to provide regular updates. I haven't decided yet whether it will be semi-annually or once a year. I'm open to suggestions depending on the interest of parliamentarians in that, but given the amount at stake, it would be at the very least an annual update.

Transport committee  It varies significantly across jurisdictions. In some instances, there are labour shortages that make it more difficult to invest quickly and promptly. In other instances, it's probably a lack of identified projects that are shovel ready, to use a widely known expression. It also speaks to the fact that some jurisdictions are financially constrained and it's not always easy for them to match dollar for dollar what the federal government is investing, especially when we—

Transport committee  I wouldn't venture on that specifically, because there are a number of programs. I would keep my remarks probably at a higher level and more general in saying that it's probably a lack of funding. We've seen that through an absence of evidence of any incrementality in the federal funding.

Transport committee  It would certainly be easier for municipalities and provinces if they got some transfers similar to the gas tax fund's, which they wouldn't have to match. In essence, it would be free money for them. The fewer conditions attached—especially with cost matching—the easier it is for other levels of government to spend, obviously.