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A sound and vibrant infrastructure is a must if a community - and a country - is to thrive. Too much of Canada's infrastructure is crumbling and neglected, this author writes. This author exposes the consequences of such neglect and explains how Canadians can discover the political will and financial resources to repair the problem.
A shiftof financial assets, economic power and corporate investment is presenting municipal governments with a unique opportunity to play a critical role in the prosperity agenda for their cities by developing smart strategies and timely investments to attract the shifting dollars. If these government seize the opportunity, their cities could build creative clusters that will attract and appeal to the next generation of entrepreneurs, employees and companies. By so doing, these same cities will achieve an enormously important goal: They will develop and sustain the community's vibrancy and productivity, and broaden its tax base.
This article explores the state of infrastructure and the attention it is given in Canadian communities, and discusses the challenges and opportunities for municipalities to build strong, creative cities that can compete in the global economy.
THE STATE OF CITIES
Many factors influence where companies and individuals choose to work and do business. Location, a stable political environment, access to markets, the availability of a skilled workforce, proximity to resources and suppliers, taxation levels, serviced land, transportation corridors, reliable water and electricity and the quality of life are all important.
But there is another rapidly emerging consideration: the state of local infrastructure. Modern, efficient and reliable infrastructure is the foundation of strong local economies. Both hard (roads, sewers, water systems, etc) and tech (hi-speed wiring and broadband) infrastructure are critical to business success. And increasingly, in older North American and European cities, a deteriorating infrastructure and the lack of new, modern infrastructure is a very serious issue. Cities in Canada and the U.S. are falling behind new cities in Asia, India and the Middle East that are attracting the businesses and types of citizens cities need to be socially, economically and culturally vibrant.
In Canada and the U.S., cities are facing infrastructure deficits in the trillions of dollars. Moreover, they don't have the financial resources to fix the problem. (Municipal infrastructure deficits are the...