New federal infrastructure
minister wants to speed up
pace of building projects
Ontario Construction Report staff writer
Catherine McKenna says her top
priority as Canada’s new minister of
infrastructure and communities is to
speed up the pace of building pro-
jects. “It is up to all orders of govern-
ment to pull together and provide the
essential infrastructure that will main-
tain and improve the way people live,
work, and raise their families,”
McKenna said in a speech to the Fed-
eration of Canadian Municipalities.

“The time to invest in Canada’s in-
frastructure is now to bring Canadians
good jobs, a cleaner environment and
thriving communities.”
The Liberal government has com-
mitted more than $180 billion over 12
years to improving roads, bridges,
public transit and other needed infras-
tructure across Canada.

McKenna told municipal leaders
that accelerating the pace of projects
is the first of three main priorities.

“Let me just be clear about my pri-
orities,” she said. “My first priority is
getting things built quickly that matter
to the lives of Canadians.”
McKenna said getting projects off
the ground quickly will require all lev-
els of government to work together.

“This is every bit as much about
rural broadband, safe drinking water
in remote communities and leveling
the playing field on other baseline
community infrastructure as it is
about big cities, mega transportation
projects which do tend to capture all
the media attention,” she said.

Among the Liberal government’s
top priorities, McKenna told municipal
14 – WINTER 2019-2020 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report
leaders she wants to ensure the ben-
efits of infrastructure investments are
distributed fairly across the country,
including in rural and remote areas,
including federal funding for high-
speed internet service.

Tackling climate change is also a
priority for McKenna who stressed
that “infrastructure must respond to,
and be more resilient to climate
change, but also be a part of the solu-
tion” in the face of new challenges for
municipalities, including flooding,
drought, wild fires and extreme heat.”



The Canadian Design and Construction Report — WINTER 2019-2020 – 15