WINNIPEG, Man. – Manitoba Highways Minister Steve Ashton used an April 7 speech during the Manitoba Trucking Association’s annual convention to chide the federal government for its failure to introduce a national highway program.

“When you pay that loonie to the provincial government, you get back a loonie in terms of the highway system,” Ashton said. “But take a loonie you are paying to the federal government, most years you get back nothing. If they get really generous, they give you a nickel back. That is exactly where we are with the National Highways Program.”

Referring specifically to the recent federal budget, in which the federal government pledged $150 million annually for highway infrastructure, Ashton said: “Here in Manitoba, we haven’t received a cent since 1996. Under the new program, it is going to be a couple of years before we see anything. And if we do, the entire cost of the transportation portion is going to be $150 million – that’s what the federal government takes in for Manitoba alone.”

In light of the federal investment in infrastructure, Ashton expressed dismay about the future of the transportation industry in Canada. The country is held together by its transportation system, he said, but that linkage is being threatened by neglect.

“You can see our investment in infrastructure, decade over decade, goes down, and down and down,” Ashton said. “And it is getting to the point where not only are we not pushing the frontiers anymore, we are running around trying to deal with crumbling infrastructure. You can do that only so long.

“The Canada we have put together is driven, in a lot of ways, by transportation. But we still have to deal with the Americans, and they are doing a much better job of financing infrastructure. If we don’t want to do it for the vision (of a united Canada), we should do it for competitive reasons.”

He pointed out that investment in infrastructure is one of the only competitive advantages not restricted by NAFTA that the government can give the business community. There is no doubt that improved infrastructure makes it easier to do business, he explained, but because it is not a direct subsidy to any one business, it is exempt from all trade laws.

“Every dollar you put into infrastructure at the national level basically gives your producers and manufacturers and the trucking industry another dollar to compete that other jurisdictions have to match,” he said. n