44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 7, 2022 10:00AM
- Jun/7/22 4:55:24 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am wondering if the member could provide his thoughts in regard to the Canada Infrastructure Bank. His colleague was very critical of Canada Infrastructure Bank, yet it has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in many areas in the country, and in particular in Brampton, for example, where it is actually responsible for ensuring that they get electric buses.
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- Jun/7/22 4:55:49 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I myself have not seen much in the way of positive outcomes from Infrastructure Bank of Canada projects. On the contrary, I think there are good reasons to get rid of it.
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- Jun/7/22 6:55:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, President Biden made a bold move and announced that he will be using the U.S. Defense Production Act to accelerate the manufacturing of solar panels, grid infrastructure, heat pumps and building insulation. I am curious as to whether this government is also looking at Canada's Defence Production Act to ensure that we are accelerating these clean energy industries as well.
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- Jun/7/22 6:55:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I do not know the specifics of that. The member might want to raise this with the minister responsible.
I can say, though, that we have seen an incredible amount of money and dedication, whether it is coming from the minister responsible for the environment or the Minister of Finance, who are ultimately being led by the Prime Minister, to ensure that we are seeing greener jobs, technology and so forth being developed and encouraged. This is not just from direct government expenditures but also from working with the private sector.
The Conservatives have been very critical of the Infrastructure Bank, but it has been hugely successful on environmental projects. All one needs to do is take a look at what is happening in Brampton today, with the conversion of buses from diesel fuel to electric. This is an excellent example, and I think there are virtually endless examples. If I were provided the time and maybe allowed to do a little more research, I could provide all sorts of good details on that front.
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- Jun/7/22 7:01:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague from Winnipeg North mentioned the Infrastructure Bank, and I have to say that some of the early spending by the Infrastructure Bank was very encouraging, but I am devastated that budget 2022 does not promote the continued building of interties to connect our electricity grid so that we can have a functional, robust electricity grid working east-west and north-south to move renewable energy from one province to another. As the member will know, I am very disappointed in his government's climate plans, but I do not understand why it is ignoring the urgent need to build a strong electricity grid to meet our needs to decarbonize energy.
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- Jun/7/22 7:02:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I suspect that if we take a look at the voting record, we will probably find that the former leader of the Green Party voted against having a Canada Infrastructure Bank. Now, if we take a look, anyone can google the Canada Infrastructure Bank and take a look at the projects that are there. Many of those projects are green projects.
I made reference to what is happening in Brampton: the conversion of fuel buses into electric buses. We are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars. That is happening, in good part, because we created, a number of years ago, the Canada Infrastructure Bank, something that many members of this House did not support and that many other members continue to criticize today. They need to check out the website, at the very least, and take a look at what the Canada Infrastructure Bank has been doing. That is without even mentioning the many other initiatives the Government of Canada has taken by working with partners, whether they are provincial or other stakeholders in the private sector and so forth.
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- Jun/7/22 8:31:49 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I was really fortunate to do my electrical apprenticeship at a time when the Province of Manitoba, under an NDP government as it happens, was investing a lot in public infrastructure. I never missed a beat between working, going to school to finish my levels, and then coming back out to the job site.
I never worked on a fossil fuel project. There are a lot of different ways the government can invest in public infrastructure that is going to create jobs and prosperity for Canadians. This dichotomy between investing in fossil fuel and having jobs and not doing that and losing all the jobs is simply a false one, because that is not the real choice. The fact of the matter is that there are a lot of things we can invest in that are going to create good employment for Canadians.
I am from western Canada, and the Canada West Foundation, which is not usually a place New Democrats look to for inspiration, has done a great report on the idea of a western power grid that would connect B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba and allow the hydro power of B.C. and Manitoba to act effectively as a battery for Alberta and Saskatchewan, which have the most potential for wind and solar power generation in the country by far. However, because that does not give us a baseload, we need another kind of baseload power that can be released into the system when the sun is not shining or the wind is not blowing.
We could create a really effective system of generation, transmission and distribution in western Canada that would help lower our emissions, create tons of employment and have the same nation-building capability as a pipeline. It would actually cross more provinces than a typical pipeline does.
That is the way we can be creating employment and moving our economy in the right direction, not only for here in Canada but developing expertise with Canadian workers and Canadian companies that they can then go and sell globally, as other economies make similar investments in renewable energy. That is how we can develop a plan for prosperity here in Canada that is actually equal to the climate crisis. It is not the vision we are getting out of the government.
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- Jun/7/22 8:49:38 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for mentioning the infrastructure bank in a positive way. We have heard many comments through tonight's debate that the infrastructure bank is seen by some members as negative. In terms of infrastructure investment and closing the gap on infrastructure, attracting private capital and using the expertise from private and public partnerships, the hon. member was a mayor of a major city in Canada and knows the limitations that municipal governments have around infrastructure.
Could the member speak to the importance of having these types of innovative investments in our infrastructure in Canada?
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- Jun/7/22 8:50:19 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is a revolutionary way of building infrastructure. I think of the third crossing of the Cataraqui River, which is a 1.4-kilometre-long bridge that is three and a half years into production, to be done later this fall in my riding of Kingston. It was the exact same idea, although not funded through this particular bank. It was a partnership between all three levels of government and the contractor.
They would come together and they risk-managed together. They developed the project together. They will build the project together. They will deal with changes in the supply and availability of steel or concrete, for example, and they will deal with it all together. It is, quite frankly, a revolutionary way, in my opinion, having been in that position, of working on large-scale infrastructure projects where municipalities, in particular, are very hesitant to go it on their own, because they might not have the experience in it or they might not have the ability to deal with cost overruns, for example. It truly is, at least in my community, making a big difference.
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