There are many large projects being planned or underway across Canada. These projects span the range of infrastructure classes this country needs to continue to flourish. These include our transportation infrastructure such as the replacement of the George Massey Tunnel in BC or The Eglington Crosstown LRT in Toronto; energy Projects such as Muskrat Falls in Labrador
or Bipole III in Manitoba; upgrades to our water and wastewater management such as the Lions Gate Treatment plant in BC or
the North End Sewage Project in Manitoba. We are also improving our social infrastructure with projects such
the Vaughan Mackenzie Hospital in Ontario and the Calgary Cancer Centre.
These projects are all vital to the continued prosperity of our nation and in aggregate the money we collectively spend on these projects is impressive. However, these projects are disparate and lack a clear overarching national infrastructure strategy. We need only look at some of the nation building infrastructure from our past such as the St Lawrence Seaway or Canadian Pacific Rail
as examples of an infrastructure strategy that is country–wide
in scope and impacted every Canadian. When we look at
the current pipeline of infrastructure builds, are we really setting Canada up to be a global leader for the decades to come? Are these projects going to dramatically affect the well–being of all Canadians? If not, why don’t we have a strategic and national vision for our infrastructure projects that will result in step–change benefits to our economy and society?