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House Hansard - 134

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 24, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 134 - Nov/24/22
Ms. Leslyn Lewis (Haldimand—Norfolk, CPC)
  • Nov/24/22 5:36:28 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am here tonight to ask the government for transparency on one of its signature policies, the Canada Infrastructure Bank. The bank was celebrated with much fanfare by the government in 2016. The Liberals claimed that every dollar invested would yield a return of four private-sector dollars. They even anticipated that with investments from the municipalities and provinces, it would yield a multiplier effect of 11 to one, but that was six years ago and that has not happened. Now what we see is, sadly, a version of corporate welfare, with the taxpayer subsidizing industry projects that they can fund themselves. The Infrastructure Bank has failed by almost every standard. Not only has it failed to deliver the private-sector investments it promised, but it has never even completed one project. Now we find that a $1.7-billion partnership with Fortis Inc., a North American utilities company that rakes in billions of dollars in revenue every year, has also failed. The bank promised $655 million to the U.S.-based ITC Holdings, which is a subsidiary of Fortis, for the Lake Eerie connector project. The cancelled project was going to be a 117 kilometre-long underwater power cable under Lake Eerie. It would also have brought in $33 million to the Six Nations reserve. In fact, this line would have run between Pennsylvania and Haldimand County, which is the community I represent. When the agreement was first announced one and a half years ago, the government gushed about how it would deliver tons of low-carbon energy, billions in GDP and hundreds of Canadian jobs. Now that the project has flatlined, the government needs to answer for the millions it committed. It is completely unacceptable that at a time when Canadians are struggling to put food on the table, the government cannot account for $655 million that it loaned to a multi-billion dollar corporation. It is a project that, ironically, according to the media reports, failed due to inflation caused by the Liberals. What is worse is that there has been no transparency. It is a statutory requirement that this bank operates with transparency and reports to the public. We know only from local media reports that the project was cancelled back in July. To this day there is still no information on the bank's website or on government websites about the real status of the project. Where did the money go? Is the money still in the Infrastructure Bank? Is it with Fortis, the company? Is the money gone? We just do not know. In fact, the bank's corporate plan was tabled in this very House and still lists the deal as an active project. It says that final due diligence is still in progress. This is misinformation. To have the—
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Context: House Hansard - 134 - Nov/24/22
Ms. Leslyn Lewis
  • Nov/24/22 5:43:20 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my friend for that informative answer, and I am glad that we are finally getting some answers, even if we had to extract them from the Liberals. The bank keeps failing Canadians and it is missing the mark. During these economic times, Canadians cannot afford to be on the hook for bad investments. Conservatives warned from the beginning that the Infrastructure Bank was not capable of completing this project. We asked reasonable questions early on at committee. We asked, “Why does a multi-billion dollar corporation need a government subsidy in order to build this project?” Moreover, we asked simple questions like, “What are the terms of the loan?” These questions were all ignored. Conservatives will continue to call on the government to respect the only recommendation made by the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, and that is to abolish the failed Liberal bank and create a—
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