As a member of the American Public Works Association (APWA) through the Ontario Public Works Association (OPWA) I tend to keep an eye on what is going on in the USA with regard to civic infrastructure issues. Why? Well, our American public works associates tend to lead the way in terms of advocacy and lobby efforts for civil infrastructure. Of course, their efforts have heated up recently with the economic stimulus package making it’s way from legislation to reality. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has assigned a Grade of D to the American Infrastructure. Their new ‘Report Card’ says $2.2 Trillion in repairs are needed over the next five years to meet adequate conditions. The Report Card offers informed guidance from professional engineers on where funds would best be spent.
Does Canada have a similar report card? No, but concerned organizations have been lobbying hard for immediate action to build infrastructure. Engineers Canada issued a recent news release that acknowledged the Federal Government’s commitment to infrastructure. The recent budget included the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, where ‘shovel ready’ projects could qualify for up to 50 percent of the cost from the federal government, if construction begins in 2009-2010.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) also supported the Federal Budget. Jean Perrault, President of FCM stated that the infrastructure money identified in the January 27th budget is critical and “must be implemented quickly to counter the economic downturn.”
To speed up the process the Federal government is committed to to streamlining the federal approval process for infrastructure construction projects including changes to the Environmental Assessment Act, the Fisheries Act and the Navigable Waters Protection Act. Apparently, some clauses in these Acts have not had a reality check for many years and so now is a good time for a common sense approach to revise them.
John Baird, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities stated that “there’s a real hodge-podge of environmental assessment requirements – of overlap and duplication … Many of them are just duplicating what’s done at the provincial level.”
Baird said streamlining environmental assessments is one of several changes Ottawa is mulling, adding that rewriting laws is another.
He said, for example, that the Navigable Waters Protection Act as currently written is an example of outdated legislation that can hamper public works.
“We got an earful wherever we went from British Columbia to Nova Scotia on that,” he said.
It’s nice to see that ‘Stephen the Builder’ has his soldiers marching to our step for a change. I’ll give them a ‘B’.
