Liberals fast-track system for works bank

• The federal infrastructure bank i s many months away from opening its doors, but Liberals have given a group of civil servants the power to help fast- track approval of projects for private funding well in advance.

The officials are now on the verge of handing in their secret evaluations of the projects, along with any recommendations about how to use public funds to quickly pull in private dollars to pay for construction.

The government says the infrastructure bank advisory group has not sent any projects up the ladder for cabinet approval.

Rather, i nternal documents suggest the goal of the group is to avoid any delays in project approvals and show some early wins for the new bank, which has faced controversy and won’t be fully operational until the end of the year.

The Liberals hope the bank can use $ 35 billion in public funds to pry away three to four times as much in private investment to fund infrastructure projects around the country.

The Liberals asked the advisory group to review projects that could go to the new bank and provide options to cabinet for private funding “to ensure that no delays occur on near- term infrastructure projects,” the documents state.

“In cases where a project is sufficiently advanced to proceed prior to the establishment of the ( infrastructure bank), the advisory group will provide recommendations on options for federal support to leverage private sector investment,” read the terms of reference for the group.

A spokesman for infrastructure minister Amarjeet Sohi said the group has not sent cabinet any financing recommendations.

Any work will be transferred to bank officials once the agency is running, Brook Simpson said, including reviews of a high-profile transit project in Montreal.