First stop was Toronto for meetings with the Canada Infrastructure Bank and Infrastructure Ontario. During discussions, Jon highlighted that whilst GIIA’s Canadian members were collectively responsible for $300 billion of infrastructure assets globally, the Canadian market represented a much smaller $50 billion of assets out of GIIA’s $1.6 trillion global asset database.
Canada therefore represents a great opportunity for investors if policy makers can open up the pipeline of investable opportunities.
Stakeholder meetings were followed by networking sessions hosted by GIIA members Brookfield, OMERS and the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan.
Jon, alongside our US Representative David Quam, then travelled to New Jersey to attend the National Governors Association summer meeting and a further opportunity to meet with policymakers and US members.
The NGA convenes state officials to establish cross-party consensus around key infrastructure challenges, including planning reform, and connect them with investors.
A highlight of the meeting was a discussion led by North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt on public private partnerships, the need for accelerated allocation of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding, local skills development and permitting reform.
You can watch the full panel session below.