Archived MHCA | Sept 2021

CMY K

2 SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2021

A SUPPLEMENT TO THE WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Manitoba’s economy needs investment in trade corridors

Chris Lorenc E arlier this summer, Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler set out his government’s vision to make this province Canada’s trade hub, and proposed a strategic infrastructure invest- ment plan to get us there within a decade. We support recognition of Manitoba Infrastructure’s role to position Manitoba as a global trade hub. The Manitoba Heavy Construction Association has always seen this province as the keystone in Canada’s trade domestically, continentally, to Asia and beyond. Manitoba enjoys unique geographic features that make it a trade hub: ground, air, rail and – yes – marine ports to all cardinal points. Churchill, in fact, is Canada’s only Arctic deep-water shipping port. The MHCA’s advocacy priorities are rooted in the belief that Manitoba is a trading province, its economy heavily dependent on trade’s immediate and long-term return to the GDP. And so, our industry fully supports the province’s stated intent to create a strategic infrastructure investment plan. A call for such a plan has been central to MHCA’s advocacy recommendations for decades. In basic terms, the Infrastructure Department’s four categories for investment, outlined in the proposal as guidance for infrastructure strategy and short-term investment planning, are solid. In the MHCA response to the proposal, however, we suggested that rather than setting out a hierarchy of criteria for project and infrastructure investment planning, that the provinces take a more holistic approach. We see the four categories – renewal; safety and climate resiliency; economic development; connectivity and innovation -- as intrinsically related. The primary objective must be economic development/growth – without which government cannot be assured of adequate revenues with which to fund infrastructure investment or the critical social services Manitobans rely upon. Climate resilience is closely tied to the goal of economic growth and prosperity. Renewal, safety and connectivity, as priorities, are integral elements to those prime concerns. Infrastructure assets that are maintained, renewed and connected support safety and environmental stewardship goals. So how can the province arrange an infrastructure investment strategy that balances the inter-related but sometimes competing goals? The MHCA proposes that Manitoba’s investment priorities should consider the immediate and longer-term returns that flow from the project. That must also consider avoidance of future costs that can flow from strong asset management (renewal) and planning (climate resilience). MHCA’s principles for strategic infrastructure investment are anchored by the goal of economic growth. And economic growth, for Manitoba and Canada, is tethered tightly to our trade profile and productivity. In our view, a strong infrastructure investment strategy is one that is informed by and built upon: • an infrastructure investment deficit analysis, which sets out the condition of provincial highways, bridges, water and wastewater and water-control structures, and the cost of bringing those assets to good shape • an infrastructure asset-management plan, which attributes value to transportation system and core infrastructure assets, and sets out a manageable schedule for maintenance,