Business View Magazine | December 2020

263 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2020 Message from the Government of CANADA Submission by: Minister Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities COVID-19 is having a profound impact on our citizens, our countries, and on the world. The Government of Canada continues to take strong, decisive action to protect the health and well- being of Canadians, while ensuring people can put food on their table and keep a roof over their heads. Critical, time-sensitive measures have been our immediate focus in this crisis – paying people’s wages, supporting the most vulnerable, and keeping businesses and industries afloat. Our government continues to respond to the most pressing public health concerns, while looking ahead. That is why Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the $19-billion Safe Restart Agreement in July, which includes billions of dollars for cities and towns across Canada to help cover municipal operating costs, protect the health of Canadians, get people safely back to work, and prepare for a second wave. As the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, I have also been focusing on the long-term and how investments in infrastructure can play a vital role in addressing the needs of communities and reviving local economies. Our current situation highlights the importance of my top three priorities: to work with partners to get projects built quickly, to unleash the power of infrastructure to grow our economy and create jobs, and to consider the environment in everything we do. We want to build back better for the 21st century and beyond, starting with a strong response to COVID-19. That means making our programs work better for Canadians. For example, at Infrastructure Canada we made changes to our Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program so that projects get approved faster, and in August I introduced a temporary new funding stream to support the COVID-19 response and economic recovery efforts. It’s all part of the Investing in Canada plan, through which the Government of Canada is investing more than $180 billion over 12 years to build a more prosperous, more resilient and more sustainable future for our children and grandchildren. Our Plan supports projects in five streams that our partners have identified as keys to the success and sustainability of their communities: public transit; green infrastructure; social infrastructure; trade and transportation; and rural and northern communities’ infrastructure. And we have made the plan more flexible and responsive to our partners’ needs with the new COVID-19 Resilience funding stream, with over $3 billion under the bilateral agreements we have with each province and territory. BUILDING BACK STRONGER POST-COVID-19