Government of Canada funds the National Guide to Sustainable Municipal Infrastructure: Innovations and Best Practices

Ottawa, December 8, 2000 - The Honourable Lucienne Robillard, President of the Treasury Board of Canada, Minister responsible for Infrastructure and Member of Parliament for Westmount - Ville-Marie, announced an agreement today involving the Infrastructure - National Office, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and the National Research Council to fund the National Guide to Sustainable Municipal Infrastructure: Innovations and Best Practices. The agreement outlines a maximum $12.5 million federal investment in the development of the Guide through the Infrastructure Canada program.

Through a Memorandum of Understanding between the FCM and the National Research Council (NRC), the NRC will also contribute the cost of the salaries of its experts in standards development and documentation during the project. The NRC's contribution is approximately $2  million.

Municipal governments and the private sector have played key roles in the project's conception and are expected to invest $12.5 million through in-kind contributions towards the development of the Guide. Municipal infrastructure experts from municipal governments and from the consulting and construction industries will continue to be closely involved in every stage of the project.

The National Guide will comprise a compendium of technical best practices for decision making and investment planning as well as for the construction, maintenance and repair of municipal infrastructure. The NRC and the FCM will ensure that the Guide is available to municipalities of all sizes across the country, thereby providing information about better and more innovative design and construction techniques for applicants seeking funding for projects under Infrastructure Canada, the municipal component of the new federal infrastructure program.

"A National Guide to Sustainable Municipal Infrastructure represents another important step towards realizing our fundamental objective: using new technologies and best practices to provide 21st century infrastructure to improve the quality of life of all Canadians", said Lucienne  Robillard, Minister responsible for Infrastructure. She added, "The Government of Canada projects that the adoption of best practices and innovations will lead to anywhere from $800 million to $1.5 billion in savings on annual infrastructure maintenance costs for municipalities nation-wide. Long-term savings of this magnitude would represent a substantial return on investment for this initiative."

Councillor Joanne Monaghan, President of the FCM said, "The partnership forged today between the Treasury Board Secretariat, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the National Research Council will bring real benefits to communities across the country". She added, "The Guide will help build cost effective, durable public assets leading to improved quality of life for our citizens".

In accordance with Infrastructure Canada's dedication to the enhancement of "green" infrastructure, the National Guide will initially emphasize best practices and innovations in projects related to drinking water, storm water and waste water systems.

As part of its commitment to undertake initiatives that make a long-term contribution to a dynamic economy, the federal government has allocated some $2 billion for its share of a new, cost-shared municipal infrastructure program - Infrastructure Canada.

Through the Infrastructure Canada partnership, federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments will invest a total of $6 billion in municipal infrastructure in urban and rural communities across Canada.

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For additional information contact:

Chantal Scarlett
Media Relations
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
(613) 957-2391

or

Russell Milon
Press Secretary
Office of the President of the Treasury Board of Canada
and Minister Responsible for Infrastructure
(613) 957-2666

or

Guy Félio
Project Manager
National Guide to Sustainable Municipal Infrastructure
NRC - Institute for Research in Construction
(613) 991-5354

Fact Sheet

Infrastructure Canada

National Guide to Sustainable Municipal infrastructure: Best Practices and Innovations

• The objective of the National Guide to Sustainable Municipal Infrastructure is to provide municipal infrastructure stakeholders and practitioners (local governments, consulting engineers, construction companies, manufacturers and suppliers) with a compendium of technical best-practices for infrastructure planning, construction, maintenance and repair. The Guide will improve the quality of projects funded under the Infrastructure Canada program and beyond.

• Expected results include better and more innovative designs and construction techniques for projects proposed under the Infrastructure Canada program and long-term savings for municipalities on their annual infrastructure costs.

• A draft of best practices will be released in September 2001 and the official Guide is to be completed by October 2004.

Consultations

• The project definition was developed after extensive consultations and public meetings involving municipal decision-makers and public and private infrastructure stakeholders from all provinces. More than 500 professionals in the field were met with over the last 2 years.

• In addition to discussions at learned societies and trade and professional associations meetings, two National Workshops on the Guide were held in 1998 to develop details of the concept, goals, objectives and governance structure of the project.

Project Financing

• Infrastructure Canada will invest $12.5 million (from the $2.05 billion for municipal infrastructure in Budget 2000) in two phases: $6.5 million in the first phase that covers the period up to January 2003; and $6 million from January 2003 to January 2005. The two investments are being committed through separate agreements in order to ensure that the project remains results-oriented.

• A $12.5 in-kind contribution will come from municipalities, provinces and private sector and will be coordinated by the FCM. An additional $2 million will come from the NRC.

Governance

• The project will be carried-out by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in conjunction with the National Research Council. The guide will capitalize on the strengths of both the FCM and the NRC. The FCM will help ensure that the product remains focussed on the needs of the municipalities in all regions of the country, and the NRC brings decades of experience in standards development as well as its internationally recognized expertise in infrastructure research.

• A Project Steering Committee will be responsible for overseeing the project, including approving the contents of all deliverables and associated documents.

• The Steering Committee will be Chaired by the FCM and will consist of 19 members appointed by the FCM and the NRC, and one appointed by the TBS of Canada. It will also establish and appoint members to Technical Committees, as required. In turn, the Technical Committees will establish Working Groups. The project will be supported by a small Directorate.

• The Project will also include an Internship Program. Interns hired under the program will be engineering graduates from recognized Canadian Universities.

Development Process

• The development of best practices for each of the sectors and sub-sectors will be incremental, based on: the identification of priority areas, best practices studies contracted out, and work completed by the Working Groups and Technical Committees.

• Because knowledge and expertise (at the national and international levels) vary greatly between and within each activity sector, the release of best practices will occur at different times within the project period.

• The Technical Committees for each sector will identify specific areas that will most benefit from the dissemination of best practices; the committees' decisions will be based on social, economic, environmental, and technical factors.

• The Technical Committees will produce the content of the best practices. Draft documents will be the object of broad public consultation. The consultations will provide feedback for document modification. Once modified, the documents will be finalised and widely disseminated.

Stakeholders

The National Guide has received widespread support from the vast majority of provincial/territorial municipal associations (some 2,280 municipalities; over 90% of Canada's population).

• The guide has also received extensive industry and expert support from: the Canadian Construction Association, the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association, the Transportation Association of Canada, the Canadian Homebuilder's Association, the Canadian/ Public Works Association, the Canadian Council of Technologists and Technicians the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers and the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy).

• Moreover, the Centre d'expertise et de recherche en infrastructure urbaines (CERIU) will be involved. The CERIU's expertise in research in municipal infrastructure will be put to contribution for a section of the Guide on decision-making and investment planning (diagnosis).

Results and Outcomes

• The Guide will further Infrastructure Canada's objectives by providing municipal governments and their suppliers of goods and services (consulting engineers, construction companies and manufacturers) with a compendium of technical best-practices for infrastructure planning, construction, maintenance and repair.

• Expected results include better and more innovative designs and construction techniques for projects proposed under the Infrastructure Canada program, and long-term savings for municipalities on their annual infrastructure costs, assuming the adoption of the best-practices developed through the Guide.

• Municipalities spend $12-15 billion annually on infrastructure, yet there are no national standards to govern investment decisions. Result is that established best-practices are not fully implemented; some municipalities make sub-optimal investment decisions. Estimations show that the Guide could cut annual infrastructure maintenance costs by $800 million to $1.5 billion per year. The Guide will improve the quality of projects funded under the Infrastructure Canada program.

For example, the Guide can result in the following savings: