Transport committee  Thanks. That's really a great question. Probably it's best to put it in the words of the former premier of Alberta Jason Kenney who was a big supporter of the Canada Infrastructure Bank, even as a Conservative, because he believed in the importance of getting more infrastructure built, including in Alberta.

Transport committee  That's a great question, and I appreciate Mr. Cartwright's.... I should say that I think we do have to be careful with public-private partnerships, and we need to make sure that we get value for money and get things built in the most effective way. That means that they have to work, and there have to be benefits to Canadians.

Transport committee  I do want to correct something. I apologize. Ehren Cory, I believe, was CEO of Infrastructure Ontario. There's a big difference, but he did do major projects, transportation projects. He was involved with that too.

Transport committee  I look at everything based on outcomes. Certainly by outcomes he's done a great job. He noted on Tuesday that the CIB has 46 investment commitments and $9.7 billion of investment capital that is leveraging a value of $27 billion. I was pretty clear at the beginning. I was thinking, okay, this bank has to do more projects and it has to do them now.

Transport committee  The bank is an independent arm's-length Crown corporation, so it makes its own decisions. That's a very important principle, so any questions with respect to that I think should go to the Canada Infrastructure Bank—

Transport committee  They are an independent arm's-length bank, but I will tell you that I was very clear that they needed to get projects done. When I came in, there was the REM project, but that was it. Given that, as a government, we were committed to getting infrastructure built across the country as much as possible as quickly as possible, that was really my focus.

Transport committee  Thank you. I would say it's a great pleasure to be back—maybe not every day. Obviously, that's a question that's really properly for the Canada Infrastructure Bank. I think what that demonstrates, though, is that the CIB can take different approaches, and I think that's really important.

Transport committee  That's a great question. I'm going to take it down a notch and talk about what I saw as infrastructure minister. I would meet with mayors and premiers across the country, and I would meet with folks who were in the private sector and the public sector. Everyone talked about more infrastructure.

Transport committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and hello to many of my former colleagues. I'm very pleased to be here. I was the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities from November 2019 to September 2021. I was clear from the start that my focus in infrastructure was on getting more infrastructure built for Canadians more quickly.