Transport committee  I was at no time involved in any meetings with McKinsey about work they might have been part of for the government. I have no exposure to any of that work. I had no concerns with working on the advisory council. It was an effective council. It helped us with thinking about long-term economic decisions.

Transport committee  Again, I wasn't involved in setting up those conflict of interest declarations, nor did I—

Transport committee  I'm pleased to hear that process was followed. I can tell you I would not have been involved in the process around ensuring that all advisory council members were clear that they needed to avoid conflicts of interest, but I would have known that they needed to make that commitment.

Transport committee  No. We were looking to the advisory council for advice and ideas on long-term economic policies that could advantage Canada. It was intended to be a group that could bring an outside perspective and work together with us to develop those ideas. Then, of course, we would have the opportunity to consider its advice, or not, as we moved forward with our public policy decisions.

Transport committee  The platform that we came in on in 2015 had already identified the Canada Infrastructure Bank framework as something we thought would have a positive economic impact on the country. One of the things the advisory council did was look at that platform commitment and consider how best we might be able to activate that.

Transport committee  Stepping back, I think what we talked about in 2015 was how important it was to not only continue but increase our investments in infrastructure. We saw multiple ways to do that. One way we wanted to do that was by setting up a structure that would allow us to bring outside investment into Canadian infrastructure.

Transport committee  I, again, didn't have any involvement with that particular document, so I can't really make a comment on something I haven't seen, but of course—

Transport committee  I believe that, from the very beginning of the discussions around the Canada Infrastructure Bank, there was a joint responsibility between the infrastructure department and the finance department. There was certainly, in most periods during that time, a lead taken by the minister of infrastructure.

Transport committee  Perhaps I can step back to properly answer that question. We looked at the Canada Infrastructure Bank as being independent from government as a key feature of the bank. We saw that it was important, given the mandate to be able to invest in infrastructure, that it be separate from government in order to develop the kinds of projects that would be required.

Transport committee  The decision around putting Mr. Sabia on as one of the members of the advisory council was consistent with our broader view. We wanted to seek people with different levels of expertise. We sought people with climate expertise, people with significant international business expertise, indigenous expertise....

Transport committee  Thank you. I do believe there is an important and robust process in place for seeking the leaders of institutions. For all the leadership roles, that would have been the way it was done. However, there's also an element of trying to convince people that they should be part of this, and that was something I leaned into in the case of the chair.

Transport committee  First of all, thank you very much for the question and the background. I certainly share your views that it's critically important for us to think about different ways that we can encourage the investments we need across Canada. The Canada Infrastructure Bank was charged, really, as one of the institutions that could help encourage private investment that's more significant.

Transport committee  Thank you. That was the backdrop to the discussions we had both prior to getting into government in 2015 and in the early days as we considered the Canada Infrastructure Bank. We recognized that with a growing population, the importance of ensuring we have the capacity to continue to live a prosperous life with strong infrastructure, we were going to need to escalate the amount of investment in infrastructure.

Transport committee  Thank you for the question. I'm certainly happy to be here with the committee this morning and am pleased to take your questions. I can't say that I recall, specifically, a conversation with Michael Sabia. However, I know I held Michael Sabia in high regard and would have been supportive of him joining the advisory council because of the expertise he brought to the table as a former public servant and as someone who had been a CEO.

Transport committee  In the time period when we asked Mr. Sabia to be the chair of the Canada Infrastructure Bank, I believe I would have been the one who spoke to him about that possibility. I can't recall the exact conversation, but I imagine that would have been one we had.