A White Paper on Reforming Canada’s Transportation Policies For the 21st Century

While much of the developed world struggles with debt and chronically low growth, Canada,

one of the best-performing members of the G-7, remains on firmer footing. However, this
country still has to cope with slower growth, cutbacks and aging infrastructure. As this paper
argues, reconciling these facts will take creative, non-partisan problem-solving, and it is time
governments got to work. Particularly brave politicians might consider charging the public the
full costs of infrastructure use in the form of a tax. For the less daring, advances in robotics and data management offer substantial efficiency gains. Whichever path Canadian governments choose, they will not travel it alone. The burgeoning power of social media will amplify citizens’ voices and involvement. However, private sector expertise and capital could be just what is needed to ease Canada’s looming infrastructure woes, notably in the form of infrastructure banks (iBanks); cost-effective, streamlined replacements for the tangled mass of programs and departments that currently build, manage and maintain public infrastructure.

Click here to read A White Paper on Reforming Canada’s Transportation Policies For the 21st Century by Brian Fleming and the Van Horne Institute as seen in the SPP Research papers, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary.