Federal budget to show how infrastructure bank can attract, free up investment
OTTAWA — A new infrastructure bank could free up billions in new money for social services Canadians regularly use, internal government documents say — provided the experimental new institution meets its lofty financing goals.
The presentation, prepared for the economic growth council that’s advising Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet, shows transit and water projects going through the bank could mean more federal dollars for social infrastructure like child care, recreational facilities and seniors’ centres.
Funding for social infrastructure projects, which tend to be less attractive to private investors, could increase by one-third if the bank meets its target of leveraging $4 in private investment for every $1 from the federal government, the documents indicate.
Those documents, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, demonstrate the Liberal government’s thinking on how money from its long-term infrastructure program could help them meet their economic and political goals.