Federal government expects to invest in infrastructure, support community resilience

Ottawa will invest $70 billion in federal, provincial, territorial and community infrastructure over the next decade, Governor General David Johnston said during the Speech from the Throne Wednesday.

“Projects such as building subways in the Greater Toronto Area, replacing Montreal’s Champlain Bridge, building a new Windsor-Detroit crossing and constructing Vancouver’s Evergreen Line will create jobs across our country,” Johnston noted.

With regard to transportation, the federal government has pledged it will better protect communities from railway accidents. It has already amended the Railway Safety Act to enhance rail transportation safety, Johnston reported.

“As efforts to clean up and rebuild Lac-Mégantic demonstrate, railway companies must be able to bear the cost of their actions,” he stated. The federal government will require shippers and railways to carry additional insurance so they are held accountable, and Ottawa plans to take targeted action to increase the safety of the transportation of dangerous goods.

A Montreal, Maine and Atlantic (MMA) Railway (MMA) train with 72 oil tanker cars derailed July 6 in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, claiming the lives of almost four dozen people.

In August, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) suspended MMA’s certificate of fitness effective Aug. 20, finding that the company had not demonstrated its third-party liability insurance “is adequate for ongoing operations.” However, the CTA later ruled MMA did have “adequate third-party liability insurance coverage for short-term operations from Aug. 20 to October 1, 2013, conditional on securing their self-insured obligations.”

On Wednesday, the CTA determined there had been a significant reduction in risk exposure during the period of the extension. As such, the company demonstrated it has adequate third-party liability insurance coverage, including self-insurance, for railway operations to Feb. 1, 2014.

Infrastructure also comes into play with regard to resource development, Johnston noted in the throne speech. Although Canada’s energy reserves are vast, “a lack of key infrastructure threatens to strand these resources at a time when global demand for Canadian energy is soaring,” he suggested.

Pointing out that “the window for gaining access to new markets will not remain open indefinitely,” Johnston emphasized future prosperity depends on responsible development of these resources, as well as efforts to ensure the country’s resources do not fall under foreign government control.

The government’s plan includes “measures to protect against spills and other risks to the environment and local communities,” he said. In line with that, Johnston reiterated that Ottawa will do the following:

• enshrine the polluter-pay system into law;
• set higher safety standards for companies operating offshore, as well as those operating pipelines, and increase the required liability insurance;
• re-introduce the Safeguarding Canada’s Seas and Skies Act to protect oceans and coasts; and
• act on advice from the Expert Panel on Tanker Safety, to create a world-class tanker safety system in Canada.

Looking forward, “building community resilience can mitigate the worst impacts of natural disasters and other emergencies before they happen,” Johnston said. “Our government will work with provinces and territories to develop a National Disaster Mitigation Program, focused on reducing the impact of natural disasters,” he said.

The need to build resilient communities is now a familiar refrain among reinsurers, insurers and other stakeholders. In late September, for example, it was announced that Swiss Re was among the organizations to commit to supporting a network of member cities to build resilience to natural disasters and other risks.

The announcement of a global commitment to action to the 100 Resilient Cities Centennial Challenge was made by former U.S. president Bill Clinton during the opening plenary of the 2013 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) annual meeting in New York.

The commitment to action – led by The Rockefeller Foundation and shared by Swiss Re, the American Institute of Architects, Architecture for Humanity and Palantir Technologies – seeks to advance a new vision for urban resilience globally, notes a press release issued by The Rockefeller Foundation.

Pointing out that people living in cities will account for an estimated 75% of the world’s population by 2050, The Rockefeller Foundation sees building urban resilience as an imperative of the 21st Century.

“Building resilience requires a shared vision and investment among a range of partners, including cities themselves,” Dr. Judith Rodin, president of The Rockefeller Foundation, says in a statement.