The Canada Infrastructure Bank Is a Subsidy Scheme for Big Business
Justin Trudeau’s government claims that the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) can solve Canada’s infrastructure problems. In reality, the CIB is a vehicle for private interests to get their hands on public assets and revenue streams. It should be excluded from coronavirus recovery plans.
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa, Ontario, on December 18, 2020. (Lars Hagberg / AFP via Getty Images)
The Trudeau government knows that North American infrastructure is in jeopardy: for years, engineers have been sounding the alarm. Justin Trudeau and the Liberals claim to have a solution for this problem: the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB).
Canada’s then–finance minister Bill Morneau announced the CIB’s creation in 2016. The bank uses public-private partnerships (called “P3s”) to fund Canadian infrastructure projects.
P3 contracts allow private operators to assume responsibility for providing services that the public sector previously supplied. The government then pays the contracted companies to cover their financing, operations, and maintenance, assuming the risk while they retain the profits.
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