GIIA held a series of discussions this week with Ministers and officials representing National and Provincial Governments as Canada looks to implement the announcement in the Fall Economic Statement 2016 to create the Canada Infrastructure Bank.
CEO Andy Rose spoke at two events in Ottawa and Montreal organised by the CD Howe Institute under the theme; Building Institutional Investment Opportunities for Canadian Capital Projects. The events were attended by a number of CEOs representing industry including a number of GIIA member firms. There was also strong representation from Government.
Andy shared insights and lessons learned from his experience working within UK Government on similar projects including the formation of Infrastructure UK, now responsible for the £40 billion guarantee programme , and the establishment of both HCA-Investments and the Green Investment Bank.
Andy commented “the Canadian Government has made a clear statement of intent on the importance of infrastructure investment in its future economic growth and sees the IB as a critical element to attract private sector investment. GIIA strongly supports this initiative. I was very impressed with the quality and seniority of the participation at both the Roundtable and the Conference organised by the CD Howe Institute and it was a pleasure to have been able to share experience on this very important topic.”
Following the events Andy returned to Ottawa for bilateral discussions with representatives of the Canadian Government.