Industry urges looser infrastructure regulations

OTTAWA — Industry groups are urging the Liberal government to loosen requirements under its $187-billion infrastructure program aimed at promoting issues such as gender and First Nations employment, saying Ottawa needs to cut red tape to stimulate the economy post-pandemic.

Construction and engineering firms say that social requirements introduced by the Liberal government on infrastructure projects — requirements to survey and report the number of female or First Nations workers on site, for example — have already added new administrative burdens for companies. Adding to those requirements has been Ottawa’s demand that money flows into specific project types, whether they be green energy, public transit, affordable housing or social infrastructure.

During discussions with Ottawa in recent weeks, industry representatives have been calling on Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna to begin easing some of those conditions, warning they could restrict the flow of infrastructure projects when the federal government is seeking to fast track infrastructure developments and stimulate the economy.

The requests run somewhat counter to a long-running mantra by the Liberal government, which has often used its sprawling infrastructure spending plan as a way to expound their environmental and socially-conscious political agenda.

But even a temporary relaxing of project-specific criterion would allow provinces and municipalities to more quickly move ahead “shovel-ready” projects, various lobby groups say.

“We need to broaden the menu,” said John Gamble, president and CEO of the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies.

McKenna is seeking to expedite projects under Ottawa’s sizable infrastructure program, first introduced in 2016, which ramped up funding for everything from seaports to major urban rail lines.

The program is expected t o be a key piece of Ottawa’s plan to reinvigorate the Canadian economy as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

Industry groups across the board are supportive of the spending plans, saying they go some way toward filling Canada’s longstanding infrastructure deficit.

But they say Ottawa should not prescribe what types of projects get built when stimulus is the priority, and instead eliminate those barriers.

“It really needs to be flexible,” said Mary Van Buren, president of the Canadian Construction Association, which represents 20,000 companies.

Some say the current structure of the program — which breaks down spending into individual pools of money for clean energy, trade and transportation, public transit, and other categories — does not adequately account for the individual needs of municipalities, and risks prioritizing the wrong types of projects.

A small municipality in rural Saskatchewan, for example, might have little need for public transit funding, but have a major demand for new roadways and sewer systems.