A Luncheon with Canada’s Federal Minister of Infrastructure and Communities
On April 25, 2017 students were invited by the Canadian Council for Public Private Partnership (CCPPP) to attend a luncheon event featuring the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Canada’s Federal Minister of Infrastructure and Communities. The experience was captured by Natasha Kuperman, Schulich MREI Candidate 2017:
Entering a world that is both large and tightly weaved together, the Canadian Council for Public Private Partnerships (CCPPP) luncheon event proved to be an ideal opportunity to interact with leaders in Canada’s infrastructure industry. It was clear that networking is understood as an essential first step to creating robust partnerships between the public and private sector. The adversarial relationship between the public and private sector seen in other industries is not apparent here. Instead productive partnership reigns and the nature of the conversation and presentations is a tribute to this. This was readily apparent in regard to the subject of this event, the new Canadian Infrastructure Bank.
The questions posed to the Minister were:
- What are the project objectives of the Canadian Infrastructure Bank?
- Where will the Bank be located? Toronto would be best positioned, due to its talent pool, to be the headquarters of this new Bank.
- What advice can you give to students seeking leadership positions in infrastructure?
During the introductions, organizers from the CCPPP asked students to stand to be recognized. This was a welcome surprise. It is great to feel the excitement from a rapidly growing industry that recognizes the need to attract new talent in future leadership positions.