Canada's infrastructure myth

[Anonymous]

Given the choice between spending on roads or rinks, most Canadians would probably choose the sheet of ice.



But which creates the most jobs? Which is better for the economy?



Given federal plans to spend $186 billion over the next decade or so on infrastructure, it's a fair question.



Where should Ottawa invest our tax dollars?



That's what the Fraser Institute considers in a report on the "Myths of Infrastructure Spending" that assesses federal infrastructure plans.



It's conclusion: Ottawa's doing it in all the wrong places.



Some types of infrastructure – highways, bridges, railways, ports – create jobs and help drive long-term economic growth by, for example, making it easier to move people and goods around.



Others – rinks, parks, community centres – are desirable, even needed, but do less by economists' reckoning for the economy and job creation.



The report by the Fraser Institute's Charles Lammam and Hugh MacIntyre found Ottawa will spend just 11 cents of every infrastructure dollar announced so far on projects that actually help the economy.



If the intent of the Trudeau government is to create jobs and stimulate economic growth, in part by taking on billions in new deficits and debt to pay for new infrastructure, it's headed in the wrong direction.



"There's a gap between what the government says they want to do ... and the actions they're taking," Lamman said.



The Fraser study comes on the heels of a Senate committee report that looked at federal Liberal infrastructure spending plans and found the government doesn't have much of a plan at all.



Instead, the committee concluded, our current national "plan" is riddled with red tape and focused on shovelling money out the door as quickly as possible.



Last November, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government announced plans to spend $186 billion on roads, transit and other infrastructure projects over the next decade or so.



Infrastructure emerged as a key issue during the election campaign and all three major parties promised to spend more to stimulate the economy and address decades of infrastructure neglect – a building and construction deficit of some $123 billion by all levels of government since the 1950s, according to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.



While Canada has real and pressing infrastructure needs, Lammam says per capita spending on infrastructure in Canada increased significantly from 2008 to 2015, from $16.3k per person to $20.8k per person.



And Canada is among the top countries in the world in per capita spending on infrastructure.



But it's a myth, Lammam argues, that increased infrastructure spending alone will spur economic growth. The evidence suggests some investments – like roads – do more over the long term to stimulate jobs and the economy.



Add in lengthy delays – which are also plaguing government plans – between the time spending is announced, projects are selected and shovels go into the ground, and the actual benefit of projects are also watered down, Lammam notes.



Finally, what people think government means by infrastructure is very different from what government thinks.



Most governments usually make calculating, political decisions that help shore up their popularity – by building rinks and community centres, for instance – instead of fixing rotting water and sewer lines, roads or other projects that actually improve the economy.



If that's our goal, this country and this government need to put trade and transportation projects at the front of the line.



It's not sexy and it won't make us feel as good, but it might actually work.

http://www.torontosun.com/2017/03/02/tackling-canadas-infrastructure-myths">http://www.torontosun.com/2017/03/02/ta ... ture-myths">http://www.torontosun.com/2017/03/02/tackling-canadas-infrastructure-myths



Infrastructure money even if allocated for projects that improve moving goods and people no longer deliver as big a bang for our buck as they once did when the US was building it's interstate highway system for example. Still, they are head and shoulders better than the useless vote buying projects Canada spends money on today like curling rinks.

[Anonymous]

We drove through a small community in South West Alberta that received federal infrastructure money for a park bench, a patch of fresh sod, a swing, plus a very large rock with a plaque on it.

 

[Anonymous]

The best infrastructure kick in arse for the economy won't cost taxpayers a frickin dime. They are called pipelines.

[Anonymous]

I'm all for fixing up the nations crumbling roads, adding runways at airports, but not vote buying under the guise of infrastructure spending.

[Bricktop]

Does Canada have toll roads?



Some places here, New South Wales and Victoria in particular, have toll roads. The Sydney Harbour Bridge is, and always has been, a toll road because of the massive maintainance cost.



Whereas we in South Australia refuse to consider them.



But I think they make perfect sense...as long as once the road is paid for, with profit for the builder, the toll is removed.



This way, the user pays, the taxpayer doesn't have to, and infrastructure grows. Suppliers will always follow profit.



Where I live, there is a massive inequity in road maintainance and infrastructure building between the northern and southern side of the city. The southern side is having massive road building projects ongoing constantly, but the northern side is largely ignored. Yet northern citizens are paying the same (if not more) taxes. Toll roads would remove that inequity.

[Anonymous]

Does Canada have toll roads?



Some places here, New South Wales and Victoria in particular, have toll roads. The Sydney Harbour Bridge is, and always has been, a toll road because of the massive maintainance cost.



Whereas we in South Australia refuse to consider them.



But I think they make perfect sense...as long as once the road is paid for, with profit for the builder, the toll is removed.



This way, the user pays, the taxpayer doesn't have to, and infrastructure grows. Suppliers will always follow profit.



Where I live, there is a massive inequity in road maintainance and infrastructure building between the northern and southern side of the city. The southern side is having massive road building projects ongoing constantly, but the northern side is largely ignored. Yet northern citizens are paying the same (if not more) taxes. Toll roads would remove that inequity.

There is none in Manitoba where I live. Ontario has the 409 which is toll paid electronically. BC has one I think too in the Vancouver area.

[Bricktop]

If they reduced our road and infracstructure component of our taxation in lieu of tolls, I think they would be very popular.

[Anonymous]

If they reduced our road and infracstructure component of our taxation in lieu of tolls, I think they would be very popular.

Toll roads are not as congested either are they Bricktop?

[Bricktop]

I'm not sure, not living in those cities, but the times that I've been on them have been fairly easy to negotiate.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure, not living in those cities, but the times that I've been on them have been fairly easy to negotiate.

I heard that toll expressway near Toronto the traffic flys on it. Maybe Seoul can confirm that or not.