The federal government is putting another $1.5 billion for agriculture into its Canada Infrastructure bank.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the money for agriculture is for investments in rural broadband internet service and for irrigation projects, mainly on the Prairies.
That probably includes money to expand irrigation from Diefenbaker Lake on the Saskatchewan River where a multi-billion long-term project has been announced by the province.
The money for agriculture is part of an increase of $10 billion for the bank.
The bank is proposing to help cover some of the large upfront costs of projects such as commercial building renovations or municipal purchases of electric bus fleets in exchange for being repaid over time through the expected energy and other savings over the longer term.
The $10-billion is part of the bank’s existing budget of $35-billion.
The infrastructure bank is a Crown corporation created by the government through legislation in 2017. Its mandate is to provide direct investment or loans for major infrastructure projects to encourage large institutional investors, such as pension funds, to become partners.
