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Middle class Canadians are paying a hefty price for poor infrastructure.

Canadian homeowners face expensive repairs when sewer systems back up under the pressure of “extreme” weather events that are becoming increasingly more common. Manufacturing workers lose wages when their assembly line shuts down because the parts they need are stuck in transit. Commuters regularly spend hours each day in stop-and-go traffic, or on congested public transit, away from their families.

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The Canadian economy takes a hit when we cannot get people and goods to where they are needed in a timely manner.

Our public infrastructure is approaching a breaking point. Half of it is expected to reach the end of its useful life by 2027. Canada’s total infrastructure deficit is now estimated to be as big as $570 billion.

Just maintaining our existing public infrastructure is said to require an annual investment equal to 2.9% of GDP. And 2.9% is slightly more than what all levels of our government — federal, provincial, territorial, and local — are investing combined. The federal government’s share is closer to 0.5% of GDP.