State and Provincial Governments in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Region must deepen and accelerate investments in public infrastructure
TORONTO – A renewed and coordinated approach to alternative financing and procurement is sorely needed to build major new public infrastructure projects in U.S. states and Canadian provinces across the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Region, says a new Mowat Centre report released today and funded by the Council of the Great Lakes Region (CGLR).
Given the reality of growing trade opportunities, climate change, emerging digital technologies and urban renewal as key drivers for the need to build new infrastructure, the report’s authors argue that public investments to address existing gaps and emerging trends have been insufficient, despite an environment of historically-low interest rates.
Vital Capital argues that leveraging the private sector and using alternative procurement and financing mechanisms could go a long way toward strengthening assets across the region at a time of increasing public debt and tighter controls on operating budgets and when government is struggling to keep pace with growing demands for better services.
“There are a number of established and emerging mechanisms to finance and procure public infrastructure that mobilize private sector expertise and global pools of capital,” says Mark Fisher, CGLR President and CEO. “Some of these mechanisms are already being applied in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Region with enormous success. Government leaders and legislators in the region must now act in a bipartisan manner to create a more enabling environment for these innovative mechanisms so that we can expand their use and benefits.”
The report also makes a strong case for the need for better coordination.
“While it might seem simpler to undertake a project in just one state or province, such an approach sacrifices the benefits that can accrue through collaboration across the region,” says Mowat researcher Sara Ditta. “As it stands, competing interests and conflicting regulations can make cross-border infrastructure projects difficult.”
Vital Capital offers several recommendations that would support greater alignment across the region and position it to deploy innovative financing tools, including the establishment of a Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Region Infrastructure Exchange.
The main recommendations are:
- The establishment of a Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Region Infrastructure Exchange
- A move toward standardization of innovative procurement models across the GLSLR
- More integrated planning and priority setting across the region
- The certification of socially-responsible investing and other classes of investments
The report was prepared as part of a Clinton Global Initiative America (CGI America) commitment to action announced by CGLR in June 2014. CGI America, a program of the Clinton Global Initiative, addresses economic recovery in the United States.
“At the end of the day, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence region’s economic prosperity and competitiveness will depend on getting new economic, social and environmental infrastructure built and maintaining the infrastructure we already have in place,” says Fisher. “Adopting new approaches to financing it and working harder to integrate efforts across the region will help us do that.”
The Council of the Great Lakes Region is a member-based organization that works to enhance regional collaboration and cross-border integration by bringing together stakeholders from the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors to advance effective, coordinated, and broadly shared responses to the region’s common challenges.
Clinton Global Initiative America: Established in June 2011 by President Bill Clinton, CGI America brings together leaders in business, government, and civil society to generate and implement commitments to create jobs, stimulate economic growth, foster innovation, and support workforce development in the United States. Since its first meeting, CGI America participants have made over 300 commitments valued at more than $15 billion when fully funded and implemented. To learn more, visit cgiamerica.org.
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For more information contact:
Mark Fisher, Council of the Great Lakes Region, 613.688.2044
Scott Perchall, Mowat Centre, 416.978.7171
