Crown bank plans faster cash
The Canada Infrastructure Bank will quicken the pace at which it doles out cash in the coming year, its new chief executive says, thanks in part to a structural change that has loosened the rules around how the $35-billion Crown corporation invests its capital.
Ehren Cory, who was named chief executive officer late last year, says the bank will be announcing new investments on “a very regular basis” in 2021 as part of the federal government's economic stimulus efforts.
His comments come after the CIB underwent a policy change late last year that eliminated a requirement for the bank to secure approval directly from Finance Canada before it could invest in individual projects. One senior government official confirmed to the National Post that the federal government will now approve CIB investments on a broader sectoral level rather than project-by-project. It comes after a sustained push by board members of the bank — including former chairman and now Deputy Finance Minister Michael Sabia — to streamline the approval process and funnel money to projects quicker.
Cory and other senior bank officials said the change should loosen the reins on the taxpayer-funded infrastructure bank, which has faced criticism for being slow to invest in so-called “transformative” major proj
In order for the CIB to be successful we need to be creative and nimble.
ects since its inception in 2017.
“In order for the CIB to be successful we need to be creative and nimble,” Cory said in an interview.
The CIB was established in summer of 2017 under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in an effort to incentivize private investors to funnel money into major infrastructure projects like transit lines, hydro facilities and port expansions. It is mandated to spend $35 billion over 10 years, part of a wider $187-billion spending commitment introduced by the Liberal government in an effort to revitalize and expand infrastructure across the country.
But in over three years the bank has spent only $1.7 billion, most of which came in the form of low-interest loans toward the Réseau express métropolitain, a major rail project in Montreal. It has committed up to $2 billion more for the GO Expansion, a major rail project in Ontario, and up to $300 million for Montreal's Contrecoeur Port Terminal. The bank has identified another eight projects where it will either offer advisory services or make investments; on Tuesday it signed a memorandum of understanding to fund an electrical storage facility in southern Ontario.