There is a new big shark in the Toronto waters: a federal infrastructure bank is now about to have its headquarters in Toronto. This is news that should bring relief to all residents of Toronto as a lot of people in high places had wanted it to be situated in areas apart from Toronto. A clear example is Quebec’s Liberal MPs who kept on lobbying with officials in order to have the bank situated in Montreal. However, their plans and machinations never materialized and the bank is now set to be situated in the biggest city in Canada.

Minister for Infrastructure, Amarjeet Sohi had this to say in an article published on CBC, “We believe that the right expertise that is needed for the bank is present in city.” When asked about how important the location of the new federal infrastructure bank in Toronto is, the Minister had this to say, “The location of the bank is important, but the real value for the bank is the projects that it will fund, the projects that will be throughout the country…. That is where the job growth will happen, that’s where the opportunities exists.”

With the government’s main focus on trying to select the perfect candidate for the position of chairperson and chief executive officer for the agency, it can be seen as a step in the right direction as Toronto seeks to continue its enviable achievements on the global map of development. The new federal infrastructure bank is expected to receive funding from government to the tune of $35 billion which is to be used to attract investors from all over the world to Toronto, the largest city in Canada. It is also expected that projects like transit systems, highways, and electrical grids among others are going to receive funding from the infrastructural bank.  More than half of the proposed government funding is also expected to be repayable loans and equities that is believed to be of no consequence to the government. The rest will be given as real cash to the federal infrastructure bank.

According to Minister Amarjeet Sohi, “We need to build even more infrastructure in this country and the bank is one way to do this. The bank is one additional tool we are putting in our infrastructure tool kit.” With the kind of interventions being put in place by the government, it can be seen that Toronto and Canada as a whole is on the path to greater developmental achievements.