An infrastructure deficit is dubbed the largest hindrance to economic development in the Canadian North, according to a recent report urging major—and immediate—investment.
As a whole, Canada’s infrastructure shortfall was given a wide-ranging price tag of $50-570 billion by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, but the National Aboriginal Economic Development Board cautions that deficit is most evident in the North.
“New approaches and renewed investment in infrastructure are needed – across the country in Indigenous communities and particularly in the North. And it will not be enough to just patch up the existing stock of infrastructure – infrastructure that does not even adequately meet current needs,” the board writes in its Recommendations on Northern Infrastructure to Support Economic Development.
“Bold investment in large, nation-building infrastructure is required alongside increased investment in community level infrastructure to support Northern communities.”