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Canadians see looming infrastructure issues on the horizon, want government and private sector to shoulder cost & risks together

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Canadians see looming infrastructure issues on the horizon, want government and private sector to shoulder cost & risks together

New polling finds strong support for P3s across all regions, political parties and even generations

TORONTO, Nov. 4, 2024 /CNW/ – Canadians are increasingly pessimistic about the future state of the country’s infrastructure, given the country’s booming population and staggering demands for new housing, a new survey warns.

The Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships (CCPPP) Logo (CNW Group/Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships)

Sixty-three per cent are also not confident governments alone can cover the costs of building and maintaining new and upgraded infrastructure required to handle that growth without raising taxes.

The results of the poll, conducted by Abacus Data in late September on behalf of The Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships, were released today at P3 2024, Canada’s Infrastructure Conference in front of close to 900 Canadian and international delegates. See polling data

“Canadians clearly see trouble on the horizon for our country’s infrastructure,” said CCPPP’s President and CEO Lisa Mitchell. “Still suffering from the effects of inflation and its daily hits on their household budgets, they’re also open to governments taking a more pragmatic approach to this challenge.

“That’s why there is broad support across all regions, demographics and political parties for governments to partner with the private sector to help shoulder the load and share these financial costs and risks,” she said.

Abacus Data Founder and CEO, David Coletto added: “A scarcity mindset is now common among most Canadians who are seeing the effect of rapid population growth without much improvement in the infrastructure and services they rely on,” he said. “Building the infrastructure Canadians need to live their lives and prosper will be a major pressure point in our politics and society for the next decade.”

Ther polling results buttress recommendations made in recent policy and research reports by CCPPP (Modernizing Canada’s Approach to P3s and Empowering Municipalities: Unlocking the Potential of P3s), calling on governments to make greater use of private finance via P3s to stretch scarce tax dollars further to deliver the critical infrastructure and services Canadians need.

“The survey results demonstrate Canadians strongly prefer P3s in practice. This cuts across all regions, political parties and even generations, from Gen Z to the Boomers,” Mitchell said. “This is a message our politicians, government officials, the media and the public need to hear. We cannot bridge this country’s infrastructure gap, improve the lives of Canadians or grow our economy without the public and private sectors working together to find solutions.

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