Ottawa, Ontario, September 20, 2012 – The Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities and the Honourable Steven Fletcher, Minister of State (Transport), held a roundtable with national stakeholder groups to discuss the development of a new long-term plan for public infrastructure that will extend beyond the expiry of the current Building Canada plan in 2014.
"The Building Canada plan marked unprecedented investments by the federal government to ensure Canadians benefit from modern, world-class infrastructure. This discussion will help us ensure that our new plan will build on the Harper Government's track record and provide lasting benefits while continuing to contribute to long-term economic growth and job creation across Canada,"
said Minister Lebel. "The valuable information we have gathered through our discussions with other orders of government and key stakeholders will be taken into account when establishing a new long-term infrastructure plan."
This is the final meeting in a series of roundtables held across the country over the summer and marks the end of a formal engagement process launched by Minister Lebel last November. As part of this engagement process, the Government of Canada has worked with its partners and stakeholders to take stock of recent accomplishments and their impacts, collaborate on research and analysis, and engage in in-depth discussions on the broad directions for a new long-term infrastructure plan for Canada.
"We have heard that that we are on the right track, that there is a need for sustained federal support for infrastructure and we must continue to work in partnership as we move forward,"
said Minister Fletcher.
As identified in Economic Action Plan 2012, this new plan will also encourage greater private-sector involvement and public-private partnerships to generate better value for taxpayers, and ensure affordability and sustainability over the long term. The end result will respect taxpayer's ability to pay, as governments at all levels face fiscal restraint.
Infrastructure investments are a key element of the Government of Canada's plan to create jobs, growth and long-term prosperity for Canadians. The seven-year, $33-billion Building Canada plan, introduced in Budget 2007, was Canada's first-ever long-term infrastructure plan. The Building Canada plan will continue to deliver results for communities until 2014 and beyond; the new long-term plan will build on past accomplishments, and provide new opportunities for all orders of government to work together to improve public infrastructure in Canada.
For further information on the engagement process, including providing submissions, please visit: www.infrastructure.gc.ca/plan/plan-eng.html.
Contacts:
Geneviève Sicard
Office of the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities
613-991-0700
Infrastructure Canada
613-960-9251
Toll free: 1-877-250-7154
