Universities call for federal cash for post-COVID projects
Addressing the immediate and long-term economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Atlantic Canada’s economy requires investments that stimulate nearterm economic growth in urban and rural regions. The infrastructure needs of the region’s university campuses are an opportunity to invest in shovel-ready and shovel-worthy projects while modernizing and greening higher education facilities necessary to ensure regional competitiveness.
Strategic capital investment is an opportunity to closely align the sector’s campus infrastructure renewal needs with the federal government’s economic recovery plan designed to help mitigate the pandemic’s impact on employment and stimulate business.
Campus infrastructure has the added benefit of leveraging additional investment partners from provincial governments and the private sector. Such an investment aligns with the Atlantic Growth Strategy commitment to invest in infrastructure, innovation, clean growth and climate change, and rural economies.
Infrastructure investments have formed a vital component of all successful government recovery packages. The current crisis is unlike anything we have faced before, in scope and magnitude, and will require all sectors and governments to work collaboratively as part of a sustained recovery. For universities, this includes delivering against our existing, pre-COVID infrastructure priorities, while ensuring we prepare for the new reality for higher education.
Immediate benefits of federal infrastructure investments include direct employment gains, leveraging of additional private and public sector investment, cash injections for the construction sector and spin-off industries, and improved competitiveness and productivity.
Atlantic Canada faces unique economic and social challenges, including an aging population and the imperative to attract and retain young talent. A dedicated federal post-secondary infrastructure program is how this can be achieved: building contemporary, accessible classrooms, student support and learning spaces, state-of-theart laboratories, and research facilities, all housed in ‘green’ buildings using leading-edge, energy-efficiency technologies, enabling institutions to remain competitive in the market and attract students from across Canada and around the world.
As Atlantic Canada’s universities attract proportionally higher than average numbers of international and out-of-region students, the provision of high quality, smart residence facilities are critical to our success in supporting immigration and regional population growth.
The Association of Atlantic Universities (AAU) advocacy for a renewal of a federal campus infrastructure program has broad regional support. A national survey by Abacus Data on COVID-19 and attitudes toward Canadian universities included a question directed at Atlantic Canadians about the importance of campus infrastructure renewal as part of economic recovery. Over 90 per cent of Atlantic Canadians support a federal government investment in campus infrastructure renewal.
Atlantic Canada’s universities are among the oldest in Canada and infrastructure renewal, including energy and accessibility retrofits, is the most long-standing, critical issue across our campuses. The extent of the accumulated infrastructure deficit across the AAU’s campuses is estimated to be $2.11 billion.
Universities must now balance physical infrastructure priorities with the rapidly emerging need for digital infrastructure to transition classes and programs online until mass vaccination has occurred and a safe return to campus can be achieved.
While the move to online learning will surely change how post-secondary institutions deliver some courses and programs, opening new markets of non-traditional students, we must be cognizant of the fact that there will always be a need for brickand-mortar investment to provide exceptional in-person instruction bolstered by the social connection and cultural immersion and exchange that is a hallmark of campus life. The 2021 federal budget is an opportunity for a partnership investment in green, digital, and accessible university infrastructure as part of Canada’s economic and social recovery.
The AAU advocates the federal government make a commitment in the spring 2021 budget to a dedicated program for green, accessible, and secure digital university infrastructure, to be housed within Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) and, tailored with the flexibility required in the current economic reality.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created numerous challenging issues for universities, further stretching limited financial resources. The increasing fiscal pressures on our institutions have elevated the importance of federal support for campus infrastructure – a proven mechanism for the Government of Canada to support our universities, the communities where they operate, and the next generation of Atlantic Canadian leaders.
The benefit will be felt nation-wide. The international post-secondary market results in $21.6 billion contributed to Canada’s GDP and almost 170,000 jobs for Canada’s middle class. To sustain and grow the international education sector, infrastructure investment is key.
As universities adapt to provide everything from safe and smart campus residency to digital classrooms, the AAU also recommends that the federal government consider the limited fiscal capacity of Atlantic provincial governments in the design of infrastructure programming. It has been encouraging to note the flexibility the Government of Canada has incorporated into Infrastructure Canada’s COVID-19 "resilience” stream for provinces and territories, offering a larger federal cost-share for projects of up to 80 per cent for provinces, municipalities, and not-for-profit organizations.
Through federal programs like the 2016 Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund (PSI-SIF) and its 2009 predecessor, the Knowledge Infrastructure Program (KIP), universities have a proven track record of delivering on-time and on-budget infrastructure projects, which create jobs and generate considerable spin-off economic benefits.
A dedicated PSE focused infrastructure program, prioritizing investments in green, accessible, and digital infrastructure, including deferred maintenance projects, would enable universities to retrofit existing infrastructure, reduce energy costs and contribute to Canada’s green and inclusive recovery objectives.
Once we have turned the corner on the pandemic, we will need to pivot rapidly to address the economic challenge. In the higher education sector, we firmly believe an investment in university campus infrastructure should form a key component of the government’s broader infrastructure recovery package as we rebuild and reboot the region post-COVID-19.
In the higher education sector, we firmly believe an investment in university campus infrastructure should form a key component of the government’s broader infrastructure recovery package as we rebuild and reboot the region post-COVID-19.
Peter Halpin is the executive director of the Association of Atlantic Universities (AAU), which represents the 16 postsecondary institutions in the Atlantic region, ensuring public visibility for the important role they play in preparing future leaders of our communities, ground-breaking research and innovation, and contributing to the economic prosperity, social, and cultural development in Atlantic Canada.