Liberals set up fast-track system for infrastructure bank approvals
OTTAWA — The federal infrastructure bank is many months away from opening its doors, but Liberals have given a group of civil servants the power to help fast-track approval of projects for private funding well in advance.
The officials are now on the verge of handing in their secret evaluations of the projects, along with any recommendations about how to use public funds to quickly pull in private dollars to pay for construction.
The government says the infrastructure bank advisory group has not sent any projects up the ladder for cabinet approval.
Rather, internal documents suggest the goal of the group is to avoid any delays in project approvals and show some early wins for the new bank, which has faced controversy and won’t be fully operational until the end of the year.