OTTAWA, ON, Sept. 9, 2026 /CNW/ -- Today, the Canadian Infrastructure Council published Building an Investment-Ready Canada: Six Questions Governments Should Be Able to Answer to support all orders of government and policy-makers across Canada in strengthening investment readiness.

Canada's infrastructure needs are significant and growing and cannot be met through public funding alone. As governments face growing fiscal pressures and aging infrastructure, and taxpayers are unable to absorb increased costs, they will need to leverage private investment to expand the pool of available funding for infrastructure projects and to provide for public funding to be strategically focused on areas where private financing is not viable.

On September 14^th-15^th, 2026, the Prime Minister will convene the Canada Investment Summit, bringing together global institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds, and major capital allocators to explore Canadian investment opportunities. The Summit sends a clear signal: Canada wants long-term investment, and infrastructure sits at the centre of that proposition.

Canada's challenge is not attracting investor attention, but consistently converting that interest into investment. Building an Investment-Ready Canada provides policy-makers a practical guide for attracting private investment to support better infrastructure outcomes and allow public dollars to go further. The paper offers six questions that provide a framework that governments can use to assess investment readiness and identify opportunities for action. And underpinning this work is an imperative to work together across Indigenous nations and all orders of government, private sector and community, in common understanding and common purpose.

Our aim is to contribute to the national dialogue on infrastructure investment by providing practical guidance on unlocking private sector participation and advancing innovative delivery models to improve efficiency of investments in Canada.

Quotes

"Investment readiness is ultimately about outcomes. By answering a few fundamental questions about planning, delivery, stewardship, and long-term demand, governments can better position themselves to deliver the infrastructure Canadians need."

- Jen Angel, Chair, Canadian Infrastructure Council

"Canada starts from a position of strength, but countries compete for infrastructure capital. This paper offers governments a practical framework for turning investor interest into infrastructure that gets built and delivers lasting benefits for Canadians."

- Peter Weltman, Vice-Chair, Canadian Infrastructure Council

Quick Facts

• The Canadian Infrastructure Council is an expert advisory body, launched in 2024 to provide all orders of government with impartial, evidence-based research and analysis to help improve infrastructure planning and decision-making in Canada.
• In November 2025, the Council published National Infrastructure Assessment Report 1 (NIA Report 1), a first-of-its-kind report providing a data-driven picture of Canada's housing-enabling infrastructure in the face of a changing climate and growing population, showing where it's under pressure and where smarter investments can be made.  
• The Council also produces at hoc reports and analysis, including summaries of its stakeholder engagement and technical papers on specific infrastructure topics, and will release additional papers in the lead up to the publication of NIA Report 2, expected in the first half of 2027.

SOURCE Department of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities