Question Period Note: Investing in Canada Plan

What are the key results to date for the Investing in Canada Plan?

• Our Investing in Canada Plan is generating economic growth, creating good jobs, and building strong, green, inclusive communities for Canadians to live and work in.

• We have approved thousands of projects across the country, improving Canadians’ access to affordable housing, clean water, highways, community centres, and transit systems.

• Beyond the Investing in Canada Plan, the Government has continued to make new, historic investments in infrastructure that is creating economic opportunity, inclusion and environmental sustainability.

• The Investing in Canada Plan (the Plan) is the federal government's long-term infrastructure plan that was announced in Budgets 2016 and 2017. The Plan is a point-in-time snapshot of government-wide investments in infrastructure, and does not include newer infrastructure investments announced in Budgets 2018, 2019 and 2021.

• The Plan provides a strategic framework to guide the delivery of over $180 billion in federal investments in infrastructure over 12 years and is focused on achieving three key objectives: generating long-term economic growth to build a stronger middle class; improving the resiliency of communities and Canada’s transition to a clean growth economy; and enhancing social inclusion and socio-economic outcomes for all Canadians.

• The Plan comprises $95.6 billion in new funding for infrastructure programs, committed in Budgets 2016 and 2017. Additionally, the Plan delivers $92.2 billion through pre-budget 2016 programs, through funding mechanisms such as the Canada Community-Building Fund (formerly known as the federal Gas Tax Fund) and the New Building Canada Fund.

  o In Budget 2016 (Phase 1), $14.4 billion was made available to accelerate federal investments in the short term by providing funding for the rehabilitation, repair, and modernization of existing public transit, green and social infrastructure, as well as for post-secondary education and broadband access for remote communities. All Budget 2016 programs under the Plan have launched and many have finished.

  o In Budget 2017 (Phase 2), more than $81 billion in new funding was made available to support five priority areas over the next decade: public transit, green, social, trade and transportation, and rural and northern communities’ infrastructure. All Budget 2017 programs have launched.

• As of September 2022, the status of the Plan is as follows:
  o Over $126 billion has been allocated to more than 84,000 projects and $74 billion has been paid out.
  o 88% of the Plan’s funding is either committed to projects, under binding agreement or legislated.
  o Half of the Plan’s programs are closed or no longer accepting new projects as project intakes are closed.

• INFC is responsible for the overall coordination and annual reporting on results for the more than 90 programs under the Plan. The department delivers Investing in Canada programming along with 20 federal departments and agencies including Indigenous Services Canada, Natural Resources Canada, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Employment and Social Development Canada and Transport Canada.

• While each department reports on the specific implementation of their programs under the Plan, INFC is committed to reporting transparently and openly on the progress and results of the Plan.
  o The Implementation Progress and Funding Update table is updated quarterly and provides an accounting of the full $188 billion.

  o Progress on the Plan is reported annually through Infrastructure Canada’s Departmental Plan and the Departmental Results Report.

  o A Progress report on the Plan was published in 2019.

  o INFC also reports on the status of its own programming through the Government of Canada’s Open Government Portal and through its Departmental Results Report.

• The Auditor General of Canada tabled a report on the Plan in March 2021, which included the following recommendation:

  o To improve monitoring, tracking, and reporting on progress toward the Investing in Canada Plan’s objectives, Infrastructure Canada should work with its federal partner organizations in the plan and with central agencies to determine:

         How to better measure projects’ progress toward the plan’s objectives;
         Which legacy programs are meant to contribute to the plan’s objectives and how to report on them; and
         What information the department needs from federal partner organizations to provide public reporting on the plan that is consistent, comprehensive, and easy to understand.
  

• The Government accepted the Auditor General’s recommendation. In order to respond to the findings, a Management Action Plan (MAP) was implemented to:

  o Review performance indicators to better measure and report on progress toward the outcomes and objectives of the Plan;

  o Integrate legacy programs into the Plan’s reporting structure; and

  o Improve reporting to ensure consistent, comprehensive and easy to understand information on the plan is publicly available.

• Some programs under the Plan were modified to add additional flexibilities in response to COVID-19. For example, the Canada Healthy Communities Initiative (CHCI) will provide up to $32 million in existing federal funding to support communities as they deploy new ways to adapt spaces and services to respond to immediate and ongoing needs arising from COVID-19.

• Additionally, the a new temporary COVID-19 Resilience stream was created in the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, with over $3 billion available in existing funding, to provide provinces and territories with added flexibility to fund quick-start, short-term projects that might not otherwise be eligible under existing funding streams. The COVID-19 Resilience stream also took action to help communities address COVID-19 specific challenges by providing a larger federal cost share for eligible projects to alleviate financial pressures communities faced from the start of the pandemic.

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