Canada facing $123B infrastructure debt

[Widow]

Foundations of Canadian cities 'near collapse,' investment of $123B needed
23 hours ago

TORONTO - Canada needs a $123-billion investment in its crumbling infrastructure to stave off disaster, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities warned Tuesday, just as another group cautioned that 40 per cent of Ontario's bridges will need substantial repairs within five years to prevent a potential collapse.

Canada has used up 79 per cent of the service life of its roads, bridges, water-and-sewage systems and other vital infrastructure, and municipalities simply can't afford to fix the problem on their own, a new report from federation president Gord Steeves suggests.

Without significant federal funding, infrastructure could begin to fall apart across the country, he said.

"If we don't act soon as a nation to tackle this deficit we will see more catastrophic failures," Steeves said.

As the federation was releasing its report in Ottawa, the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario unveiled its study in Toronto on the state of the province's bridges, and warned $2 billion in repairs are needed to ensure the structures don't fall apart.

Bridge safety became a hot topic last October when five people died after a bridge collapsed in Laval, Que. Another 13 people lost their lives and 100 more were injured this past August when a highway bridge collapsed in Minnesota.

"We had a sense that bridges were generally deteriorating, we had a sense that municipalities were having more and more of a difficult time maintaining these structures, (but) what we got was an eye opener, I think it's a wake-up call," said Andy Manahan, the alliance's executive director.

The report finds there's no single provincial agency to ensure that bridges are properly inspected and maintained, and recommended that the Ontario government take control of the 12,000 municipal bridges to ensure safety issues are spotted before it's too late.

"The report makes clear that inspections are not being enforced, that hundreds of these structures need rehabilitation, that there's no guarantee that our bridges are safe," Manahan said.

"So let's not wait for a disaster."

Steeves said the federal government must acknowledge that infrastructure is falling into disrepair nationwide and implement a national plan to fix it once and for all.

But federal Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities Lawrence Cannon said the federation is misleading the public in suggesting that he hasn't already acted.

A new $33-billion, seven-year Building Canada plan will help fund infrastructure renewal in big cities and small towns and will address some of the priorities the federation is focusing on including roads, bridge rehabilitation and safe drinking water, he said.

"This is a major commitment to Canada's communities - an unprecedented federal support," Cannon said in a release.

"The Federation of Canadian Municipalities' public campaign for additional federal funding sends the wrong message to Canadians."

One of the key causes for the rapid decay of Canada's infrastructure is that governments put off maintenance during the economic hard times of the 1970s and 1980s, the federation report states.

In some cases, it's now too late to refurbish the decayed structures and they have to be decommissioned, demolished and replaced.

Doing nothing is not an option, the report suggests. Accelerating decay and rising replacement costs could push the size of the bill beyond the means of all governments.

The study team sent questionnaires to 166 municipal governments and got responses from 85. It used these replies to arrive at the $123-billion price tag.

The estimated $123-billion infrastructure deficit is divided into several categories: water and wastewater systems ($31 billion), transportation ($21.7 billion), transit ($22.8 billion), solid-waste management ($7.7 billion) and community, recreational, cultural and social infrastructure ($40.2 billion).

canadianpress

[Hot Fuel]

Widow I got to tell you I like most of your stuff, you have done a lot of work that I hope will result in a pay off for this industry one day...I think your one tough gal (I mean that in the most endearing way) but I fear that if you keep reading and posting all the gloom and doom stories one day you won't be able to walk outside anymore for fear the sky is falling

[Widow]

I have an interest in the goings on at Transport Canada. Don't you?

It's okay though ...

I'm no chicken little, but "I don't want to be a pie" either.

[Hot Fuel]

So many battles and too few soldiers...its hard to know which line to stand and fight on. Glad to see that you do find other items of interest on the net, I was concerned you were becoming consumed

[Cat Driver]

I think what widow is pointing out is the bloated government bureaucracies are self serving and only expand and there is not enough money spent where the tax payers want it spent.

In other words she is looking for accountability from government.

Why is that such a difficult concept for so many on Avcanada to grasp?

[Hot Fuel]

or in this case where at least one private interest group wants it spent,

the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario unveiled its study in Toronto on the state of the province's bridges, and warned $2 billion in repairs are needed to ensure the structures don't fall apart.

The report finds there's no single provincial agency to ensure that bridges are properly inspected and maintained, and recommended that the Ontario government take control of the 12,000 municipal bridges to ensure safety issues are spotted before it's too late.

I don't deny that the infrastructure is an area of concern but if you ask me this group that is sounding the alarm is the self serving one in this case. Any chance that some of the folks that sit on this alliance have a friend or two in the right places within the provincial hallways.

Leave the system alone, just direct the funds to the municipalities and let them be accountable.

[Widow]

Two reports ... the one for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities was conducted by a team led by Dr. Saeed Mirza of McGill University's Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics.

[CD]

Sort of on, sort of off topic, but this past summer the first of a number of bridges on Highway 417 in Ottawa were replaced using rapid replacement technology. I had the opportunity to attend an SAE Ottawa Lunch & Lecture Series the other day by one of the senior engineers on the project and it was fascinating to learn what goes into a capital project like this. He was saying how the previous bridge (like many throughout North America) had an anticipated design life of about 50 years when it was constructed - about 50 years ago. With improvements in technology, the new spans should last 75 years.

The Discovery Channel also had a great overview of the replacement that aired on October 19th, but unfortunately the video isn't available on their site just now.

417 Queensway Bridges Project
MTO - Island Park Rapid Bridge Replacement Project
Ottawa Citizen - Island Park Bridge Project

[Hot Fuel]

I saw that piece on the Discovery channel, pretty slick. Swapped out a major artery bridge over a three day weekend, old school would have seen it take a couple of months.

[CD]

I saw that piece on the Discovery channel, pretty slick. Swapped out a major artery bridge over a three day weekend, old school would have seen it take a couple of months.

Actually, it was about 17 hours (that the highway was closed to traffic), versus the two years that the traditional method of closing a lane at a time would have taken, along with all the traffic congestion and chaos associated with the work. Of the next 5 bridges to be replaced on that stretch of road, I think 4 can be done using the RRT process, while 1 has to be done the old-fashioned way.

[Driving Rain]

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/natio ... ee&k=56035


Well they got 30 billion back today. That should help.

Gov't unions lose $30B pension case
Kathryn May , CanWest News Service
Published: Tuesday, November 20, 2007
OTTAWA - An Ontario Supreme Court judge ruled Tuesday that 700,000 public servants, military and RCMP personnel aren't entitled to any of the $30 billion surplus in their pension plans that has been at the centre of a historic legal battle for more than a decade.

Justice de Lobe Panet dealt a devastating blow to the 18 unions and pensioner groups that had accused the government of "stealing" their pension surplus and turned to the courts to force it to put it back into their accounts.

In a 102-page ruling, the judge rejected their claims and largely accepted the government's argument that the $30 billion at the centre of the dispute is not a real "surplus" of cash or assets, but rather an accounting device to record or monitor the government's liabilities. The years the surplus exploded showed the government had over-recorded the liabilities it would have to pay in future pensions.


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Font:****The ruling comes at a time when pensions are top of mind for thousands of baby boomers, who are retiring from the public service in record numbers over the next decade. Some predict the ruling, which suggests the government can do whatever it likes with the pension plan, will prompt a campaign among workers to gain more control over their pension plans.

Panet concluded that the pension accounts weren't "funded" with real assets and the unions failed to prove the accounts had the key characteristics of a trust fund. With no trust fund, the government couldn't have breached its "fiduciary" obligations, as the unions argued, when it amortized the surplus and used it to offset the deficit between 1990 and 2000.

Even if the unions and pensioners had an interest in the surplus, Panet said the government had the legal authority to take it all when it passed Bill C-78, the legislation that allowed the government in 1999 to claim the surplus and book it against the debt. The bill also created a new pension fund that is now invested in the market. The unions had argued Parliament didn't intend for the government to take the whole surplus, but Panet said Parliament's intent was "clear and unambiguous."

The ruling also dismissed the unions' claims that the provisions of the bill that allowed the government to take the surplus violated the Charter.

The unions and pensioners had long argued they were entitled to at least a portion of the surplus, which was partly built out of their contributions and the interest paid on those premiums.

The government had countered that the pension accounts were simply "ledger sheets" and that the contributions and interest that went into them were merely bookkeeping entries to keep Parliament informed of the cost of providing pensions to workers. It argued there were no investments, bonds, real estate or other assets in the accounts and all the government owed was its "promise" to pay pensions to all retirees.

The case, which went to trial last February, was one of the biggest the government has faced and the stakes were huge. If the unions were successful, Canadians could have faced billions of dollars added to the country's national debt.

[trancemania]

Might be a good time to privatize some stuff!

[Driving Rain]

Might be a good time to privatize some stuff!

Boy would I love the pay out for that. Then tomorrow I would come into work and plug in the same coffee maker and look out the window at my brand new 4x4 diesel pickup.