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CANADIAN INDUSTRY ONLINE - APRIL 2014
G
LEN MURRAY WAS
appoint-
ed the Minister of Infrastruc-
ture and the Minister of Transportation
in February 2013. Since then, the Min-
ister has made headlines with his bold
opinions and goals for Ontario, point-
ing out the great challenges the prov-
ince faces when it comes to infrastruc-
ture and transportation improvements.
CIO connected with the Minister to
discuss these issues, and more.
What is the Ontario government
doing through infrastructure invest-
ment to better the economy?
Glen Murray:
The Ontario gov-
ernment’s commitment to the economy
is based on two things. One of them is
to make sure we have the most skilled
workforce in the world. We have a
very strong economy if you have a
skill, a very weak one if you don’t. So
having an education is one of the two
legs of this commitment, the other is
infrastructure.
How is the province challenged
to make big changes happen?
GM:
Since 2003 we have been
working on ending what most people
view as 30 years of infrastructure
neglect. From the early 1970s until
the beginning of the last decade we
went through 30 years when we were
spending a quarter of a per cent of
our GDP to half a per cent on infra-
structure. What most experts and the
OECD recommend is that a country
should spend 5 per cent of its GDP on
infrastructure: on transit, water/sewer,
replacing and repairing public sector
assets, etc. So municipalities in Canada
have traditionally spent 1 per cent of
GDP on infrastructure (in Ontario,
around $7 billion a year).
However, our provincial gov-
ernment prior to 1974 and since
2005/2006
has been spending about
2
per cent of GDP, which is about $14
billion. And the federal government
before the early 1970s was also spend-
ing about 2 per cent, so we essentially
got to our 5 per cent of GDP, when
added to about 1 per cent spent by our
municipal governments. However, the
federal government will only spend in
Ontario about $73 million next year.
With that, you’re at less than one quar-
ter of one per cent of the GDP, so we
really don’t have any partnership with
the federal government for infrastruc-
ture which is unfortunate.
What that translates into: it is
estimated that over the next 50 years,
if the federal government continues
to spend at that low level all govern-
ments will lose $7 trillion over the next
50
years that would come from new
tax revenue—that wouldn’t come from
new taxes but just from growth in the
economy. Infrastructure drives invest-
ment and job growth.
