TRAN Committee Report

Bloc Québécois supplementary opinion on the report

Targeted Infrastructure Investments to Influence Social, Economic and Environmental Outcomes

June 15 2022

Introduction

First, the Bloc Québécois salutes the members of the Committee as well as the staff of the Library of Parliament for the professionalism they have shown and the work they have accomplished during this study and thanks all the witnesses and citizens which fueled the debate on the targeted investments that need to be made in infrastructure.

However, it is the opinion of the Bloc Québécois that this is still a report that does not address the original sin of federal infrastructure funding: conditional funding from the money of Quebecers.

The Federal Government’s False Responsibility for Infrastructure

The report as presented to the House of Commons itself acknowledges an important fact: infrastructure in Canada does not belong, in most cases, to the federal government. This is well underlined in this quotation taken from the first paragraph of the introduction:

“In Canada, most public infrastructure belongs not to the federal government, but to municipal governments, provincial and territorial governments and Indigenous communities. Although it owns little public infrastructure – only about 3% of the total – the federal government plays a key role in funding projects undertaken by other infrastructure owners.”

However, this report errs when it relies on the amounts spent by the federal government to justify its intervention in the management of infrastructure. As we have shown in our complementary opinion of the report, The Canada Infrastructure Bank, the money spent by the federal government is none other than the result of the fiscal imbalance existing between the federal government and that of Quebec and of the provinces. It should be noted that in this previous supplementary opinion, we explained the situation of the fiscal imbalance as follows:

“This imbalance allows Ottawa to collect more revenue in taxes than it needs to accomplish the missions falling within its areas of jurisdiction, while Quebec and the provinces find themselves lacking funding for activities in their fields of competence. Thus, the federal government takes advantage of the fact that it collects more money than it needs to interfere in what does not concern it.”

Added to the fact that the infrastructure does not belong to it, we can only conclude that the federal government’s funding for infrastructure should in fact be taken directly by Quebec and the provinces. Therefore, the fact that the federal government levies excessive taxes does not give it the right to impose its views on those who should legitimately raise the necessary revenues and administer the infrastructure, which are the owners of said infrastructure.

Get to the Root of the Problem

The current report therefore lacks, once again, the vision needed to address the fundamental problem of infrastructure financing in Canada. We will therefore take the liberty of reiterating here the avenues for solutions that we have already listed in our complementary opinion of the report The Infrastructure Bank of Canada.

The best solution for Quebec remains the accession to its full and total independence from Canada. This would resolve all the problems caused by the fiscal imbalance and the predatory action of the federal government, which is constantly trying to interfere everywhere and especially in places where it should not.

Until Canada leaves Quebec, there are two solutions:

The first is for the fiscal imbalance to end with a disengagement of the federal government in sectors that do not fall under its jurisdiction and a transfer of the associated taxation and tax points to the governments of Quebec, the provinces, and the territories. This would restore decision-making and financial power to the only legitimate players in the circumstances: the owners of public infrastructure in Quebec and Canada.

The second option is to transfer all the amounts for infrastructure in Quebec, to the provinces and to the territories. This solution may seem attractive, but it would maintain the constant threat that the federal government could seize these sums as soon as its centralizing nature is felt.

Conclusion

Finally, this report will once again have failed to recognize the basic problem in infrastructure. Unfortunately, this is a redundant situation when we talk about these subjects, demonstrating the need for Quebec to take its destiny into its own hands and no longer expect anything from the Canadian federal system.

Bloc Québécois Recommendations

That the Government of Canada transfer tax points funding infrastructure to Quebec and the provinces.

Failing that, that the Government of Canada unconditionally transfer to Quebec and the provinces the funds related to infrastructure.