Senator Martin: Last summer it was the C.D. Howe Institute that issued a report which found that Canada was lagging behind other OECD countries for attracting investment. Researchers wrote:

Business investment is so weak that capital per member of the labour force is falling, and the implications for incomes and competitiveness are ominous.

William B.P. Robson writes:

Investment per available worker lower in Canada than abroad tells us that businesses see less opportunity in Canada, and prefigures weaker growth in Canadian earnings and living standards than in other OECD countries.

Senator Gold, do you agree with all the experts who say that Canada, under Justin Trudeau, is no longer attractive to foreign investors? And what is your government’s plan to correct 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?