As the country continues to remain in lockdown to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, provincial and territorial governments across Canada are making plans for how best to help the economy recover once the pandemic has subsided. And as it has been in the past when striving to exit a difficult economic hardship, investment in infrastructure will be a key driver on the road forward.

We have already seen one province make a significant commitment to infrastructure as part of its strategy for economic recovery. The Government of Alberta announced its plan to double its capital maintenance and repair investment for 2020-21, boosting funding from $937 million to $1.9 billion.

On the same day as the Alberta announcement, the Government of Ontario announced the formation of its Jobs and Recovery Committee. The committee, chaired by Minister of Finance Rod Phillips, includes the participation of 12 addition cabinet ministers, associate ministers, and senior officials. Among them are key ministers impacting infrastructure investment, including the Ministers of transportation, labour, health, energy, and infrastructure. This group will help informed the Premier of the economic strategy needed to drive Ontario’s economy forward once the pandemic is behind us.

With a staggering level of asset deficit at the municipal level, and a laundry list of projects in the infrastructure pipeline, investment in the sector post-COVID-19 should be obvious. Construction puts local people to work, gives them money to spend with the small business community that will desperately need the support, and it provides us with assets that can make dealing with the next disruptive event, pandemic or otherwise, easier to manage.

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To make the case for infrastructure development in Ontario post-COVID-19, ReNew Canada has partnered with the Construction and Design Alliance of Ontario (CDAO) for an interactive discussion. The 90-minute conversation will focus on four key subjects: the current state of the economy, the economic case for infrastructure investment, the opportunities for investment in the province, and the need to be innovative in what we build next.

The conversation will take place on Thursday, April 23rd from 9:30a.m. to 11:00 EDT. Speakers include Ontario Society of Professional Engineers Executive Director Sandro Perruzza, Residential and Civil Construction Association of Ontario Executive Director Andy Manahan, John O’Grady of Prism Economics and Analysis and more. The conversation will be moderated by ReNew Canada Managing Editor Andrew Macklin.

The interactive event is free to attend, and event attendees will receive a link to the video presentation following the event. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions throughout the event.

To register, visit https://www.crowdcast.io/e/cdao–infrastructures.

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