Minister invited to lay out MTI priorities at MHCA Awards Breakfast
MTI Minister Lisa Naylor has been invited to speak to the department priorities at the MHCA Awards Breakfast November 17.
Naylor, with Deputy Minister Ryan Klos, met with senior members of the MHCA Board of Directors November 2 at the Legislative Building. MHCA presented industry priorities regarding the annual highways capital program, including recommendations for an annual and five-year budget.
The MHCA delegation included Board Chair Dennis Cruise, Past-chair Nicole Chabot, Vice-chair Kevin Brown and Marcel Machado, Chair of the Highways Committee, as well as MHCA President & CEO Chris Lorenc.
The MHCA’s priority areas of ministerial attention to support a predictable annual program flow included:
- releasing publicly a report that assesses the transportation network condition and investment requirement. The investment deficit for highway and bridge infrastructure is said to be approximately $9 billion, but no formal report has ever been released publicly, he noted.
- building on the $500-million highways capital program to address both the investment deficit in maintenance and new assets required for population growth and a strong, competitive economy
- the need for early tendering and awards to enable industry business plans, and ensure early material mobilization so construction projects can begin in spring
- successful execution on the “budget set/budget tendered & awarded” goal
- the need for a trackable tender advertising schedule, with each updated edition of the schedule indicating which projects are tendered, awarded and, if delayed or removed, explanatory notes
- moving to an annual and five-year highways capital budget, on the heels of MTI’s adoption of a five-year capital infrastructure plan.
Lorenc spoke about the value of trade to Manitoba’s economy, accounting for 53% of provincial GDP and 66% of Canada’s GDP. He urged the minister to continue Manitoba’s leadership role in pressing for a federally leveraged Canada Trade Infrastructure Plan, beginning with the national 2024 budget.
The MHCA also strongly encouraged the deputy minister continue the collaborative industry-MTI working group, which reviews program issues including the experiences coming out of each construction season.
Further, it supported the department’s commitment to formalize a specification review working group, modeled after the City of Winnipeg Public Works specification review group, which has membership and terms of reference.
Lorenc also said the industry supports the establishment of a Blue Ribbon Panel on infrastructure, announced by Premier Wab Kinew, and offered that MHCA and the ACEC-MB should be members on such a task force.
