Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and committee members.

Thank you for this invitation to speak to the committee about its study of the investment of the Canada Infrastructure Bank, or the CIB, in new vessels for BC Ferries.

I'm joined by my colleague, Frédéric Duguay, the CIB's general counsel and corporate secretary.

We welcome the opportunity to speak to you today about our loan to BC Ferries. If you would permit me, I'd appreciate the opportunity to give a quick update on our overall progress before diving into the specifics.

The CIB was created to get infrastructure projects unstuck. Through our flexible financing, we can address market and affordability gaps that get in the way of projects moving forward. Since I joined the organization at the end of 2020, we have consistently made 20 to 30 investments—that's $3 billion to $5 billion of CIB money invested—each year. We expect this pace to continue or accelerate.

I'm proud to report that we've now made loans worth $17 billion across 102 projects that have a total capital value of $50 billion. We have projects in every province and territory. Our pipeline of future projects is healthy. Of those projects, 70% are in construction, supporting nearly 235,000 Canadian jobs and other downstream domestic benefits. Seven of these projects are completed. This number will increase rapidly as more projects finish construction and come online.

It's different from a grant. We make loans that are repaid with interest. For several quarters now, we have collected sufficient revenue to cover 100% of the organization's operating costs. We expect this trend to continue, resulting in minimal impact to taxpayers. In short, the CIB is a model that is working and delivering tangible benefits for Canadians, getting greenfield infrastructure built with minimal cost to taxpayers.

Our projects range from our recent investment at the Montreal airport to Canada's largest energy storage facility in Haldimand—Norfolk to a wind turbine and energy storage system in Nunavut to reduce an island community's reliance on diesel. For each project we finance, we look at the public benefits that this infrastructure delivers to Canadians. Growing the economy, decarbonizing key sectors, improving the connectivity of Canadians and closing the indigenous infrastructure gap—these impact measures form the core of our investment decisions.

The CIB's investment in new vessels for BC Ferries is an example of how it's delivering on its mandate.

This organization is faced with aging vessels that provide less reliable service and a growing demand for this critical link.

After an initial small loan to support the purchase of several smaller ships in the spring of 2024, we began our discussions with BC Ferries about the purchase of major vessels in September of last year. At the time, BC Ferries was involved in a global procurement process. The CIB's low-cost loan structure would allow them to accelerate their transition to new, cleaner, efficient and reliable vessels while avoiding higher costs on the residents of B.C. who use them. Without our loan, they faced a series of difficult choices: Increase fares, delay the investments in these new vessels or decrease services. Given the positive outcomes of the project, we provided a loan that was approved by the CIB's board in early March 2025. It is allocated, as you've heard today, in two components, up to $690 million toward vessels and up to $310 million toward local electrification infrastructure.

It's important to note that we had no role in BC Ferries' procurement decisions. As the project proponent, BC Ferries are best placed to decide how to procure the vessels that will help them realize their business objectives and the needs of their users.

I want to be clear. In all the Canada Infrastructure Bank's investments, the project partner is responsible for making procurement decisions based on its business objectives. The CIB doesn't make these decisions. The CIB is the bank. It makes loans that get paid back with interest.

We didn't direct the farmers of Alberta as to how they should source the new irrigation systems that they now use to expand farmland production, nor did we tell the Caisse de dépôt how to source the LRT train system in Montreal, but I'd like to be equally clear: The people who benefit from CIB loans are Canadians. In this case, regardless of where BC Ferries source their vessels, the benefits of our financing go directly to the users of the service by keeping fares more affordable and ensuring that new, reliable and cleaner ships are in service as soon as possible.

What project proponents across the country have told us is that they run competitive global procurement processes that welcome Canadian bidders. In many cases, the Canadian market can supply the goods and materials these infrastructure projects require. Canadian steel, cement and other key inputs are in many of our projects, but at the same time, almost all infrastructure projects in this country are built using global supply chains. Critical components, from solar panels to chips and batteries, are procured from global markets.

Across the country, there is a growing clear refrain: Canada needs to rise to the moment and build infrastructure, and it needs to build it fast.

While we are making solid progress, we also all know that our needs are significant. We need to empower project owners to move quickly to build the infrastructure that will diversify our economy, open trade routes for Canadian goods to get to markets, and more. Equally important, we need to address how we finance this infrastructure, given finite government resources.

These are matters that our project partners, such as BC Ferries, grapple with daily. It's why the Canada Infrastructure Bank was created. We're here to help our partners get their projects unstuck, deliver benefits to their local communities and make their projects affordable for users.

Thank you, and I look forward to the questions.

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