Transport committee  No.

Transport committee  I'm sorry. I don't have an appreciation for exactly how that process worked. What I can say is that we went through a process of deliberation on how best we could set up the Canada Infrastructure Bank. We then went through the normal procedures for doing that, including considering the budgetary issues and the implementation.

Transport committee  In fact, one of the things I thought were important when we came into office was to make sure we had advice from all sectors of the economy as we considered our economic plans. The idea behind the advisory council on growth—

Transport committee  Well, first of all, thank you. It's a pleasure to be back and to have the opportunity to speak to this committee. I appreciate the work that you're doing, the work in particular around looking at how we can have investments in infrastructure. I think that is very important. I want to make sure I can be heard appropriately.

Transport committee  Okay, thank you. I want to say that from day one, it was important, from the government's perspective, in setting up the Canada Infrastructure Bank, that we set up something that was independent from government. The idea behind the institution was that it could accelerate investment in infrastructure in Canada.

Transport committee  No. At no time was I involved in the management or the direction of the Canada Infrastructure Bank. That would be separate from the role of minister of finance. I had no involvement at any time in discussions on who would or would not be used to help the Infrastructure Bank to achieve its goals.

Transport committee  The conception of the Canada Infrastructure Bank really came over a long period of time. We had it in our election campaign platform in 2015. My background in this area goes back, though, much further. Back in 2012 I was asked by the Ontario government to help set up a new independent pension organization consolidating smaller pension funds so that we could have the potential for those funds to invest more in infrastructure.

Transport committee  I didn't know Dominic. I certainly knew of Dominic's strong reputation as one of Canada's leading international business people. I had pretty limited exposure to him prior to my time in office. I can't remember if I'd ever actually met him, but certainly I was delighted that he was willing to come on board and be part of our advisory council.

Transport committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to start by saying it's a pleasure to be here with all of you in a virtual format. I'm pleased to talk a bit about the Canada Infrastructure Bank this morning, and in particular, I'm happy to have the opportunity to talk about the importance of infrastructure investment in our country.

Transport committee  That would be fine.