TORONTO — Unlike the ’30s when politicians tried to dig out of the Great Depression by squeezing the cash, today’s leaders are gambling that spending — big central government spending, that is — is the adrenalin shot needed to restart the economies around the world currently on life support.

Like Buckley’s cough medicine — “it tastes awful, but it works” — taxpayers throughout the global village are trying hard to swallow the idea that big Keynesian bailouts and billions thrown at massive infrastructure projects will at least keep the economy bobbing at sea level until markets show signs of real recovery.

Just last week, soon-to-be U.S. President Barack Obama and House Democrats unveiled a $90 billion infrastructure spending package, with the bulk going toward highway and bridge construction as well facelifts for older public buildings.

Our own PM Stephen Harper has also announced a series of industry bailouts and is reportedly also working on a broader Canadian stimulus package.

These investments are aimed at creating millions of jobs in North America and spur untold new equipment and technology purchases while giving the national infrastructure system its first significant facelift in 50 years.

It’s no secret, then, why manufacturers — especially of vocational vehicles and heavy equipment — are counting on government investment to perhaps help slingshot sales over the next few, otherwise stagnant, years.

Governments hope big infrastructure spending
will free up trade flow while creating jobs

Along the NAFTA-reliant Ontario-Quebec corridor, trucking fleets and shippers are also pushing hard for revitalization of highway and bridge systems.

Speaking at a recent “Freight Demand Forecast” conference in Toronto, a panel of transportation business people explained that congested highways, crumbling roadways, and the lack of metropolitan bypasses are a growing hindrance to trade.

And despite the current downturn and credit crunch, “now is the time to make the investment in infrastructure to support the vision and strategy of where our transportation network is going,” insisted Warren Sarafinchan, senior director for logistic solutions at Maple Leaf Foods. “Once the volumes come back, it’s too late to invest.”

The conference, organized by the Canadian Industrial Transportation Association (CITA), was attended by policy makers from a number of federal and provincial ministries, including Transport Canada and the transportation ministries of both Ontario and Quebec.

Brian Taylor, president of Liberty Linehaul and vice-chair of the Ontario Trucking Association (OTA),  says congestion issues in metropolitan areas add up to “an economic development nightmare” that will ultimately choke trade expansion.

Infrastructure projects such as adding crossing capacity at the Windsor-Detroit gateway and expansion of the highway system through the Greater Toronto Area, are essential, he said.

The panelists noted that Hogtown — one of the five largest cities in North America — is one of the few major cities that doesn’t have a truck bypass or ring road. Plus, on-time delivery is often hit-and-miss near larger cities because of traffic congestion, noted Gary Fast, associate vice president of domestic transportation at Canadian Tire. “…the current infrastructure does not fully support our product flow needs,” he said.

The Ontario-Quebec corridor is in particular need of a boost because of the critical goods arteries that connect to the rest of the country, says Robert Johnson, president and CEO of Purolator Courier. “Currently there are no long-term specific goals to address this issue.”

Recommendations from speakers and participants at the conference — and three others across the country — will be woven into a freight forecast report commissioned by Transport Canada.

“Part of the purpose of this event is to potentially identify infrastructure investments,” said Jacques Rochon, executive director of Freight Integration and Motor Carrier Policy at Transport Canada. “We are developing a joint strategy in Ontario and Quebec to make as efficient as possible the movement of international goods in the future, and trying to optimize the system.”

The report, being written by the consulting firm Global Insight, is expected to be released in April 2009.