Justin Trudeau Insists That Fixing Infrastructure Requires Paying Tithes to the Rich
Justin Trudeau has built a bank dedicated to using public-private partnerships to fix Canada’s crumbling infrastructure — partnerships that burden taxpayers with extortionate interest rates that benefit wealthy members of the rentier class.
Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, speaks during an event announcing Budget 2022 investments in housing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, on Friday, April 8, 2022. (Galit Rodan / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) is an initiative of the Justin Trudeau government created to further entrench public-private partnerships (P3s) in the financing of all infrastructure projects. Dreamed up in 2016 and founded in 2017, the future of the CIB has seemed in doubt since its inception. Slow to get started and unable to shepherd projects to completion, the bank was ardently opposed by former Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole, who committed to closing its doors in 2021. On the other side of the house, the New Democratic Party (NDP) has called it the “privatization bank” since its founding and have warned that it will lead to higher public costs that will be funneled into private profit. Now, an NDP private member’s bill sponsored by Niki Ashton, Bill C-245, is seeking to remake the CIB.
Ashton’s bill would amend the purpose of the bank. The current Canada Infrastructure Bank Act is dedicated to using P3s as a vehicle for funneling state funds to private interests. The act states, “The purpose of the Bank is to invest, and seek to attract investment from private sector investors and institutional investors, in infrastructure projects in Canada.”
The amended act would change the focus of the CIB to privilege public investment. It reads:
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