Governance

Image by: Elena Berd

LEADERSHIP

Chair, Stephen Dyck, SNC Lavalin

Across Canada there are unprecedented levels of investment in infrastructure. These investments will shape Canada’s long-term success in terms of economic growth, improving the quality of life and promoting equity, and mitigating environmental impact. This working group aims to help governments deliver greater value from investments by setting up effective systems and processes from planning to delivery, to operations

Priorities

Stable, predictable market

Provides certainty for companies to invest in talent and equipment, and an ability for government to coordinate their investments to meet their policy goals in a more cost-effective way.

Focusing on lifecycle outcomes

Putting an emphasis on the whole life and not just construction of infrastructure, reduces running costs, delivers more functional working environments, better experiences for end users, and rewards responsible owners who keep their facilities maintained.

Collaboration and open communication

Delivering projects based on open communication, quick decision-making and problem solving together, and incentivizing good performance reduces the risk of delays and cost overruns.

FEATURED THINKING

Canada’s National Infrastructure Assessment

The National Infrastructure Assessment is an important first step that will help lay out a comprehensive approach to build an evidence –based, independent approach to planning and delivering infrastructure across the country.

ACTIVITIES

Infrastructure Governance in Canada

With over $60 billion in infrastructure projects funded by governments each year in Canada, it is important that they get bang for the public buck. Good governance is essential to a strong, sustainable infrastructure industry that builds all public sector projects. It helps provide stability, certainty, and confidence right across the infrastructure sector from planners, architects, and designers, to engineers and constructors. Stable public investment enables companies to plan, retain talent, invest in skills development, and drive innovation. It also helps create an environment for successful project prioritization, planning, and delivery that benefits government, industry, and local communities. The first-of-its-kind report from the Future of Infrastructure Group shows there are good practices in place, but also room for improvement in the public sector around the foundations of infrastructure planning and delivery in Canada.

Learning from the New South Wales Government Action Plan

The New South Wales Government developed a ten-point commitment to the construction sector in 2018 to strengthen the relationship between government and private sector to drive better project outcomes. This provides a template to transform the relationships between governments and the private sector.

Learning from Australia’s Infrastructure Audit

The Australian Infrastructure Audit, first conducted in 2015, is updated every five years. The Audit looks at future trends and cross-sectoral challenges to find ways to improve industry efficiency, capacity and capability.