Toronto’s gain a loss for Montreal — and Canada
Choice of site for infrastructure bank disappoints, puzzles on many levels
Talk about a missed opportunity.
Last week, the federal government announced that it had selected Toronto as the home for the newly created Canada Infrastructure Bank. The news came as a disappointment to Montreal’s business community, which had lobbied hard for this city to be chosen.
I share in their disappointment, but I’m more puzzled by the lack of political leadership and long-term vision. This was a chance to bolster the position of Canada’s second-biggest city, and reposition it at the heart of an innovative Canadian endeavour. Beyond the business community, why weren’t our representatives from all three levels of government front and centre in a co-ordinated campaign to bring the bank to our city?
The goal of the bank will be to leverage $35 billion in federal cash and loans to develop public-private partnerships that will be used to finance strategic infrastructure projects across the country in such areas as public transit, trade and energy-grid improvements. Legislation to create the bank has not yet been approved by Parliament.
I have nothing against Toronto, by the way. At first glance, that city is the obvious choice for an infrastructure bank. The Ontario capital is the heart of Canada’s financial sector. It’s also where the bulk of Canada’s public-private partnership firms are located. Finance Minister Bill Morneau is from a Toronto riding and has strong ties to Bay Street.
But ambitious 21st-century projects in Canada will only succeed if they leverage the potential of the entire nation. Toronto may seem like an obvious choice in the short term, but what about the long term? Most of Canada’s population is concentrated in our cities; our collective future is directly tied to cities’ health and success. Selecting Montreal for the infrastructure bank would have helped to diversify and unlock Canada’s urban potential.
It would also have helped to ensure that Montreal, Quebec’s only metropolis and the province’s economic engine, was fully invested in longterm pan-Canadian infrastructure projects, and would have gone a long way in building a network of leaders in Quebec and other parts of the country with professional and personal relationships. Instead, expect to hear more about the federal government choosing “la ville reine” over Montreal. (Robert Dutrisac of Le Devoir says that the decision reinforces the “financial hegemony” of Toronto over Montreal; Mario Dumont in the Journal de Montréal suggests that this will put wind in sovereignist sails.)
The irony of Montreal — city of orange cones, decaying highway overpasses, sinkholes, potholes and flushgate — vying to house Canada’s new Infrastructure Bank isn’t lost on me. In the 1960s and ’70s, Montreal was transformed by mega urban development projects including the Place des Arts complex, Expo 67, the métro, the underground city, the Olympic Stadium and many of the corporate buildings downtown. The legacy of this era was hurried construction, poor quality infrastructure and massive debt.
Today, Montreal is working to turn itself around. We are home to leading infrastructure and engineering expertise, and a vibrant university ecosystem. In fact, plans for the infrastructure bank were inspired by the approach developed by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, whose subsidiary CDPQ Infra is the spearhead for the future Réseau électrique métropolitain (REM) electric train.
In the 2015 election, Quebec sent 40 Liberal MPs to Ottawa. It also marked the first time there were MPs from Montreal in the caucus of the governing party since the Conservatives took office in 2006. So why were none of the Quebec MPs fighting, at least not publicly, for the CIB to come to Montreal? Where was Mayor Denis Coderre? (His counterpart in Calgary, Mayor Naheed Nenshi, was one of the loudest voices for Calgary’s campaign to attract the bank.)
By selecting Toronto, the federal government has made a choice to stick with the status quo. It’s a missed opportunity not only for Montreal, but for Canada.