The $6 billion Canada Infrastructure Works Program, which began in 1993 and was renewed in 1997 with an infusion of another $1.3 billion, was justified on the basis that there was an infrastructure “need gap.” This article examines Canadian literature of the past 10 years on infrastructure needs and the justifications and challenges of infrastructure investment with a view to inform policy discussion. The literature can be categorized into situation reports and policy arguments. Economic arguments are the most often used; they focus on output and productivity growth. Environmental arguments are either polemic, focusing on the sustainability of resources, or technical, focusing on the sustainability of infrastructure. Social arguments are mainly speculative, with little empirical discussion of access, regional equity, and the redistributional effect of infrastructure investment. The jointedness of infrastructure systems, in a physical and a management sense, poses the greatest policy challenge.
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