Address by Minister Champagne at the Australia-Canada Infrastructure Symposium

February 20, 2017– Sydney, Australia

Check against delivery. This speech has been translated in accordance with the official languages policy and edited for posting and distribution in accordance with the Government of Canada’s communications policy.

Thank you, Clara [Cutajar, Partner with PwC] for that kind introduction.

Good morning, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

I want to begin by thanking Infrastructure Partnerships Australia and the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships for organizing today’s symposium and for inviting me to be your keynote speaker today. It’s a great honour.

I also want to thank all the public officials and business leaders from Canada and Australia who are taking part in this week’s events in Sydney, Australia, such a gracious host, and my friends and colleagues from Canada who travelled here to make this happen. We are back where it all started, in Sydney.

I look forward to working with you over the coming days – and months and years!

And if I may, let me add that Canada has great Trade Commissioners working at our Consulate General in Sydney, three of whom are with us here today.

I would ask them to please stand up so everyone knows who they are, and make sure you get their contact details.

But first, let me say that earlier in my career, well before a career in politics, I worked for about 20 years in the energy and engineering sector for ABB and AMEC Foster Wheeler.

So, for a politician, I understand the essential role that modern infrastructure plays in generating productive and inclusive societies.

When we talk about infrastructure today, it’s not just about fixing old bridges or roads, it’s about getting ahead of the curve in deciding where to invest, where to live and where to grow.

Infrastructure connects our communities, takes people and goods where they need to go, and allows us to communicate with each other productively and effectively.

It powers our homes, our schools and our workplaces – increasingly through green and renewable energy.

It gives us clean drinking water and clean air to breathe.

It provides the essentials and, if done correctly, it provides opportunity.

Modern, up-to-date infrastructure keeps the wheels of the economy moving and helps companies get their products to markets near and far.

That makes it a major competitive advantage for attracting business investment. 

But I also think of the child growing up in Canada’s North or perhaps the Outback here in Australia.

She faces a stark choice today in a world where physical or digital connectivity matter so much: for her family farm, for getting her goods to market, for giving her options to expand her education or for her social life.

Or, the new immigrant family who step into a new life in a new city, in a land vastly different than their own – especially in winter!

Investing in infrastructure will provide the next generation with options and new arrivals with the tools necessary to build their future prosperity.

It’s for all these reasons, economic and social, that infrastructure is a top priority for the Canadian government.

That is why we are investing $186 billion over the next 12 years in infrastructure that will create good jobs, boost our economy, and position our country to be more competitive and export-oriented over the long term.

These investments will be focused in a few key areas:

• One of them is public transit, connecting people to opportunity.
• Another is green and social infrastructure, connecting sustainability over the longer term to opportunities yet to come.
• And transportation infrastructure projects are yet another example, connecting our goods to the global marketplace, making it possible for a fisherman in Harbour Breton, Newfoundland, or, say, the Gold Coast, to grow and thrive.

And our transformational infrastructure plan doesn’t stop there.

We announced last year that we will launch a new Canada Infrastructure Bank, offering innovative financing for infrastructure projects, and helping to get more built in Canada.

The bank will be responsible for investing at least $35 billion from the federal government with two main objectives.

The first is to work with Canadian provinces and municipalities to expand the reach of government funding directed at infrastructure.

The second is to attract private-sector capital into infrastructure projects – including from global pension funds and investors. This should be of great interest to the people in this room.

Our public taxpayer dollars must go farther and be used smarter; that is the commitment we made to Canadians.

Over the long term, connecting capital to projects will create the good, well-paying jobs needed to grow the middle class now, and strengthen Canada’s economy.

The new bank will complement another new initiative announced last year: the Invest in Canada Hub, a concierge service to help international investors navigate the ins and outs of the Canadian investment landscape.

One of my messages for you today is that Canada is open for business.

We welcome investment from Australia and elsewhere because we understand that trade and investment mean growth and growth means jobs.

And not to boast too much, Forbes and Bloomberg call Canada the best place for doing business in the G20 – indeed, we have the lowest business costs and taxes in the G7.

We offer easy access to global markets – including a free trade agreement with our North American partners, and I’m pleased to say I have just left Strasbourg, where the European Parliament voted YES to a trade deal between Canada and the EU, a market of more than 500 million people.

Sustainability and predictability are in short supply and high demand these days, which may explain why there’s enormous interest in Canada right now.

We also have vibrant, diverse communities and a highly skilled and educated workforce.

All those things make our country very attractive for potential investors.

Part of my job as the so-called “Chief Marketing Officer of Canada” is to turn that interest and those opportunities into real results for people.

That’s the key message my Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, delivered in Strasbourg and again in Germany after the vote: we must make the deals we strike and the investments we make real for the people.

Working with partners like Australia to realize the potential that exists now is critical, and what an opportunity we have now, ladies and gentlemen.

In Australia and around the world, there are trillions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure projects that are in the pipeline over the coming years; and to boast a little for you now, Australia is certainly leading the way.

But we are catching up!

From conception to construction, and every stage in between, Canadian firms have what it takes to make these projects happen, to make these projects work.

Canada is a proven player in the infrastructure market at home and abroad, and I am here to say we want to work with you as Australia continues to expand and modernize its infrastructure.

Indeed, some Canadian firms are already heavily involved in high-profile projects here.

For example, Brookfield is building Perth’s new 60,000-seat multi-purpose stadium, which will open in time for the start of the 2018 Australian Football League season.

And PCL Construction, Canada’s largest general contracting company, is part of the consortium that built the new Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre in Melbourne.

The Australian Trade and Investment Commission expects overall investments of up to A$125 billion in greenfield and brownfield projects over the next three years.

Many of the biggest projects are happening right here in Sydney.

Canadian firms have the engineering and construction skills to work on large transportation projects like Stage 2 of Sydney Metro, Stage 3 of WestConnex, Western Sydney Airport and a possible Western Sydney Airport rail link.

Our companies are also well-placed to help design and build the next generation of social infrastructure in Australia – including hospitals, schools and sports stadiums.

Many opportunities also continue to exist for largescale investors in the Australian market.

Canadian pension funds are already gaining a reputation as major and reliable investors in Australian infrastructure through their involvement in local projects like Barangaroo, NorthConnex, the Sydney Desalination Plant, and others like the Port of Brisbane.

Both Borealis Infrastructure and OPTrust have opened offices in Sydney, concrete steps to enter the Australian market and to take future business opportunities very seriously.

Other significant players include the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which is planning to open a local office here in the next year.                                       

With hundreds of billions of dollars in planned investments, infrastructure is clearly top of mind in both our countries.

So let’s work together to get these projects off the ground. The right stuff is right here at the Forum.

Let’s build the infrastructure that will improve the lives of our citizens, make our communities more enjoyable and take our economies into the 21st century – and beyond.

As I said at the outset, must work harder to make these investments real for people.

An important step in that process is for business leaders and experts in the field to share ideas, explore partnership opportunities and learn from each other’s experiences.

Events like this give us a chance to demonstrate to the people we represent that we’re seized by nothing less than the critical investments necessary to ensure their future prosperity.

Thank you.