Infrastructure spending should go with outsourcing, says ACEC

The Association of Canadian Engineering Companies (ACEC) in Ottawa is pressing the federal government to make an accelerated infrastructure program a keystone of its January 27, 2009 budget.

In a letter dated December 18 addressed to the Hon. Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, and Hon. John Baird, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, ACEC’s President, Jeff Morrison, pointed out the long term benefits of spending on hard infrastructure: “In study after study, both in Canada and in countries around the world, infrastructure investment is a proven policy tool that will provide short term stimulus, but perhaps more importantly, longer term economic stimulus in the form of a more competitive economy, better safety, and a higher standard of living for citizens.”

Morrison also made a special point of asking that the government should make it a point to outsource the work on infrastructure to the private sector, rather than using in-house resources: “ACEC believes that recipients of federal infrastructure monies should be required to outsource work to the private sector – not only in order for governments to get the best quality and value project, but perhaps more important in the current economic climate, outsourcing is the only way to provide for a true simulative effect.”