Climate change is damaging the country’s public infrastructure – roads, bridges, storm sewers and water treatment systems.
A report by the Canadian Climate Institute (CCI) says taxpayers will pay a steep price if our infrastructure doesn’t adapt to the changing climate.
That’s bad, but the good news is that investing upfront in climate-proofing public infrastructure could limit those impacts and save between $4 billion and $9 billion per year by 2100, according to Prepare or Repair: How climate-proofing public infrastructure pays off.
Such investment would prevent most of the damage to infrastructure caused by rising heat and heavier rainfall, and free up public dollars for other investments.
But there’s a catch.
Although the benefits of investment in infrastructure are widespread, most of the costs are borne by municipalities.
To give Canadian municipalities a helping hand, and to beef up infrastructure’s climate change resiliency at the same time, the report says the federal, provincial and territorial levels of government need to pitch in.
They should:
- Ensure all public infrastructure spending accounts for climate risks;
- expand funding to municipalities to adapt infrastructure to climate change;
- strengthen national climate hazard data and maps to support infrastructure decision-making; and
- accelerate updates to infrastructure codes and standards so that new and renewed infrastructure is built to withstand climate change.
Rebecca Bligh, president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, a CCI financial supporter, says in an announcement, “With the right tools and strong collaboration across all orders of government, we can help every community build resilience and stay prepared for the climate challenges ahead.”
According to some industry experts who spoke to the Journal of Commerce, the construction and heavy equipment industries are up to the challenge of climate-proofing Canadian infrastructure.
Kelly Scott, CEO of the BC Road Builders and Heavy Construction Association, says British Columbia has just come off a period of huge building projects, such as the Site C Dam (John Horgan Dam), and contractors and workers are looking for more work now.
“Heavy construction is a resilient and adaptive industry,” says Scott. “We have the workers, now we need the work, and I’ve been making our case to government.”
Scott says B.C.’s first infrastructure priority is the province’s road network, “There are many remote communities and First Nations communities in B.C. that we can’t allow to become isolated,” he says. “And bridges are part of our road network, too. We have approximately 4,000 bridges in B.C.”
Its enthusiasm notwithstanding, industry would also like some help from politicians and government officials.
Calgary Construction Association president Bill Black says the construction and roadbuilding industries have been hurt by “the constant cuts and delays” to the funding they need to build and maintain infrastructure.
“Climate change doesn’t make this a new problem,” says Black. “It adds another layer to an inheritance that Canadians did not ask for.
“Politicians have allowed the consistent de-prioritization of critical infrastructure to save money to pay for pet projects or tax cuts etc. to get themselves elected, which has created a critical infrastructure deficit.”
Canada’s most urgent infrastructure needs are water and utilities, followed by bridges and roadways.
“The cost to bring most of them back up to speed would pay for itself over a few years compared with the ever-rising costs of maintaining declining infrastructure,” says Black.
Manitoba Heavy Construction Association president and CEO Chris Lorenc says governments are under an obligation to ensure there is enough money for infrastructure projects.
“We (industry) can’t take ‘no’ for an answer,” says Lorenc. “We can’t let government knowingly abandon the adequate financing of core infrastructure upon which we build our economy and society.
“As long as industry has government funding that is sustainable, predictable and incremental, and as long as industry gets reasonable notice of government’s plans, Canada’s roadbuilding and heavy construction industries have enough time to ramp up.”
Jack Mintz, the president’s fellow of the school of public policy at the University of Calgary, says the way infrastructure is financed should be changed.
When projects are funded through taxation and access to them is not priced, there is little or no incentive for individuals to make efficient use of them.
“The lack of direct accountability means individuals fail to use infrastructure judiciously and sparingly, to preserve the life of public assets or prevent unnecessary congestion,” says Mintz.
There is, however, a more economically efficient way to finance public infrastructure.
“A user-pay model would work to eliminate political influence, create revenue for infrastructure renewal and facilitate an optimal allocation of infrastructure resources,” says Mintz.
For read the CCI report, click here.
