infrastructure spending
Of the $4 billion earmarked for 2016/17, only $1.6 billion will go to public transit and other municipal infrastructure.
It’s fairly clear that most of the budget's ‘infrastructure’ spending is not aimed at improving Canada’s roads, bridges and highways.
The whole country (except Nunavut) will be encouraged to over-invest in public transit since, under the cost-sharing formula, new dollars will only cost 50 cents.
The federal government may speed up spending on infrastructure projects in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Prime Minister Trudeau recently said that infrastructure spending is “the key” to kick-starting Canada’s economy.
Premier Notley recently commissioned a report on infrastructure financing by former Bank of Canada governor David Dodge.
It’s true that in Montreal, our roads are chronically potholed and some of our highways, overpasses and bridges are literally crumbling. But does that come from any general reluctance to invest in public goods?
Before we buy boatloads of new infrastructure in Canada, we should ask why current infrastructure is crumbling.