A recent focus group that plumbed the minds of Canadians about infrastructure indicated people feel their roads and bridges are personal benefits, and that such assets should be maintained in a non-political, planned way.
“These results were encouraging, showing Canadians are quite thoughtful about how they use and expect their roads and bridges to be maintained, for the good of the community,” MHCA President Chris Lorenc said.
The focus groups, conducted May 31 by Innovative Research Group for the Canadian Construction Association, probed the opinions from participants in Halifax, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
People related to what they used most immediately in their daily lives, but also connected with the infrastructure that gave them access to personal benefits – bike paths, EV chargers or the means to get out of their cities, on a road trip.
“Transportation infrastructure was top-of-mind when participants were asked how governments could do better,” the summary report from Innovative Research said. “Roads were mentioned by all groups, while public transit was particularly stressed in the Toronto group.”
Importantly, participants sympathized with governments making investment decisions – trying to keep everyone happy – but also said that such decisions should be led by long-term planning and best practices.
“The idea of expert decision-making and long-term planning emerges naturally and is important,” the report by Innovative Research said. “Participants expressed frustration that infrastructure investment decisions are often based on what is ‘politically expedient’, and not based in the needs of communities, and expressed a clear preference for longer-term planning, more expert-led decision-making processes, and more local consultation.”
Other examples of important infrastructure cited in the focus groups included housing and hospitals.
The focus group report was solicited by the CCA as part of the construction industry’s advocacy for the federal government to adopt a strategic, long-term infrastructure investment plan.
The sentiments expressed by the focus group participants regarding the need for long-term planning aligned with the recommendations from a recently released Canada West Foundation report called From Shovel Ready to Shovel Worthy – The Path to a National Trade Infrastructure Plan for the Next Generation of Economic Growth.
CCA and the Western Canada Roadbuilders and Heavy Construction Association engaged with the CWF in the production of the report, which advocates for the strategic prioritization of trade infrastructure projects, based on their return on investment.