Senator Martin: Transparency is one of the many serious problems with the Canada Infrastructure Bank. For example, it was revealed late last year that the $1.7‑billion Lake Erie Connector project had actually been cancelled in July. However, if you check the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s website today, you can still see a press release announcing this project. There have been no answers to legitimate questions surrounding the awarding of Canada Infrastructure Bank contracts to McKinsey, which has extensive ties to this bank from its creation to this day, and now we have what looks like a mostly internal review process. So, leader, why is there so much secrecy surrounding this process? Could you tell us if the contract given to McKinsey by the Canada Infrastructure Bank will be part of the five-year review?

Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): My question also concerns the Canada Infrastructure Bank. In fact, it is legislated for a five-year review. Minister LeBlanc is required to bring forward a report to Parliament by the end of June.

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According to documents obtained through Access to Information and Privacy and released last week by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, this review began in June 2022 but has had no public engagement and no public information on the process being followed. Yesterday, a senior official from Infrastructure Canada told our National Finance Committee that they have opened some public consultation.

Leader, could you tell us when this consultation began and if it’s still open? Were all Canadians invited to comment or just those groups and individuals chosen by the Trudeau government?

Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): According to your mandate letter from the Prime Minister, you must contribute to the development of infrastructure, “in line with the Government’s broader infrastructure strategy.” One goal of your government’s infrastructure strategy is:

Support major nation-building projects that will benefit people across various regions, connect our country and improve quality of life, including the Newfoundland-Labrador fixed transportation link.

Minister, could you tell Canadians and, in particular, the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, where this project is? Do you have any idea of the level of expenses involved in this project and how much the federal government will be called upon to finance it?

Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Welcome, minister. Last week, the Auditor General of Canada tabled a fairly scathing report on your department’s poor performance in supporting First Nations communities with respect to emergency management. The report stated:

Overall, Indigenous Services Canada did not provide the support First Nations communities needed to manage emergencies such as floods and wildfires, which are happening more often and with greater intensity.

The report also found that the department’s approach was reactive rather than preventative which cost taxpayers 3.5 times more money as a result. First Nations communities identified many preventative infrastructure projects to mitigate the impact of emergencies, yet 112 of these projects that have been approved by the department have yet to be funded.

So, minister, who is responsible for this gross mismanagement costing taxpayers 3.5 times more money? Why is your government not acting on the 112 prevention-focused infrastructure projects identified by First Nations communities?

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Senator Martin: Senator Gold, it seems like your government thinks that the fix-all solution to this problem is to simply throw money at issues as they arise rather than to address the root cause.

Former minister Perrin Beatty has said that your government has tended to measure infrastructure spending in terms of job creation, as opposed to what the “problem in need of a solution” is and what the economic returns are. This short-sighted approach is evidence of a lack of long-term planning by your government on this issue.

Senator Gold, when will your government start to get serious about the development of a long-term national plan to strengthen and secure Canada’s infrastructure and supply chains?

Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, my question is for the government leader.

Senator Gold, Canada is falling behind under this Trudeau government. According to a report released earlier this year from the Canada West Foundation, confidence in the reliability and competitiveness of Canada’s trade infrastructure has been declining, both here at home and abroad. In 2019, Canada was ranked thirty-second in the world, placing us below all of our major competitors. Trade and infrastructure experts have long been sounding the alarm on this and calling for Canada to urgently address its long-neglected trade infrastructure in order to remain competitive.

As our economy and population continue to grow, more strain will be put on our existing infrastructure.

Leader, why has your government not heeded these warnings? When are you going to address this?

Senator Martin: When announcing the creation of the Canada Infrastructure Bank, the Trudeau government claimed it would attract four to five dollars in private capital for every tax dollar invested. In the five years of the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s existence, this has never occurred or even come close. The Canada Infrastructure Bank’s website currently shows that of $19.4 billion invested so far, about $7.2 billion is from private and institutional investors, and the rest appears to come from different levels of government — in other words, taxpayers.

In February, Minister LeBlanc acknowledged before a House committee that he was not satisfied with the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s ability to raise funds from private investors. Isn’t that grounds for scrapping the Canada Infrastructure Bank, leader?

Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, my question for the government leader also concerns the Canada Infrastructure Bank.

In April of 2021, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, PBO, released his most recent report on the Canada Infrastructure Bank. The PBO’s analysis concluded that the Canada Infrastructure Bank was losing money, unlikely to deliver on its mandate and would miss its own infrastructure spending targets by over 50%. Yet the Canada Infrastructure Bank is very good at spending taxpayer dollars on bonuses, as Senator Plett has just mentioned.

Senator Gold, does your government disagree with the findings of the independent Parliamentary Budget Officer?