The value of Canada’s public and private infrastructure was $852 billion in 2018, up $47 billion from 2017. That represents 7.7 per cent of national wealth, says Statistics Canada.
“In real (volume) terms, this was a 2.7 per cent increase in the stock of infrastructure from the previous year and was 37.4 per cent higher than in 2009, the first year of available data,” the federal agency reported on Thursday.
“Investment in infrastructure totalled $85.8 billion in 2018, representing 25.9 per cent of all non-residential investment in Canada. Over 585,000 jobs were associated with the production of infrastructure assets in 2018, 17,000 more jobs than in 2017.”
Nationally, 54 per cent of the total jobs were the result of direct investment, while 46 per cent were from spinoffs in other industries.
The growth rate in infrastructure investment was 0.5 per cent in Alberta.
“In Canada, highways and road structures and networks received the largest share of investment, which supports the service of transportation. In 2018, investment in highways and road structures and networks accounted for over one-fifth (22.5 per cent) of total infrastructure investment in Canada,” it said.
StatsCan said the direct and indirect economic contribution from public and private infrastructure investment increased by $1.7 billion from 2017 to $64.2 billion in 2018, with direct investment accounting for 56 per cent of the total and indirect 44 per cent.
– Mario Toneguzzi
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