The CanInfra Challenge convenes a national dialogue on transformational infrastructure at Summit

The CanInfra Transformational Infrastructure Summit convenes business, non-profit, academic and government leaders to address critical topics in infrastructure

TORONTO, May 28, 2018 /CNW/ - The CanInfra Transformational Infrastructure Summit launches today with a keynote address by Minister of Finance Bill Morneau. The conference will showcase Canada's in-flight infrastructure projects, address how Canada can be a world leader in digital infrastructure and debate ways to bolster private sector participation in infrastructure investments. Speakers will include John Tory, Mayor of Toronto, Nadir Mohamed, Director, Ryerson & ScaleUP Ventures, Janice Fukakusa, Board Chair, Canada Infrastructure Bank, and Andrea Stairs, Managing Director, eBay Canada. Highlights from the CanInfra agenda can be found here.

"We hope Canada can unlock the opportunity to create a stronger economy through next generation infrastructure. Transformational investments in transit, energy, transport and digital connectivity can lay the foundation for Canada's future competitiveness. Infrastructure projects such as green power, data networks and smart transportation grids can also enhance our environment and support isolated rural communities," says Kilian Berz, Senior Partner and Managing Director from the Boston Consulting Group and Chair of the Centre for Canada's Future.

The Challenge, sponsored by Brookfield Asset Management and The Globe and Mail, and facilitated by The Boston Consulting Group, crowd-sourced proposals from across Canada to tackle the country's biggest infrastructure challenges.

The Summit will feature interactive breakouts where participants can tackle challenges such as how to create a national pipeline of infrastructure projects or how to avoid a 'digital divide' from emerging across Canada.

"Digital infrastructure is critical to both urban and rural Canada achieving the promise of our 21st century economy, and this means both enhancing wireless and fibre connectivity and establishing new classes of digital infrastructure such as data utilities or electronic identity platforms," adds Vadim Gouterman, Partner and Managing Director at the Boston Consulting Group.

Financing transformational infrastructure at scale is a challenge and will require innovative types of collaboration between the public and private sectors. "Canada through its largest pension plans is home to world-class infrastructure investors. We have an obvious opportunity to channel their expertise and knowledge of innovative models from around the globe to create more opportunities for global pools of capital in types of projects CanInfra is bringing to the forefront," says Vinay Shandal, Partner and Managing Director at the Boston Consulting Group.

BCG innovation expert Alan Iny will also lead a "Brainblizzard" session to challenge participants to imagine what Canadian infrastructure might look like if we brought the mindsets of Amazon, SpaceX or Uber to the topic.

"Canada has been trailing world-leaders like Australia, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Denmark in infrastructure investment per capita for several decades," says Darwin Smith, Partner and Managing Director at the Boston Consulting Group. "This shows up in our distinctly average 'infrastructure quality' results compared to other countries and in our productivity-sapping congestion and export bottlenecks."

The CanInfra Transformational Infrastructure Summit will conclude with remarks from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

To learn about the Canadian Transformational Infrastructure Summit, visit www.canInfra.ca.

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