Canada has enough concrete ambition, but the delivery system needs work.
According to a new PwC report, the country needs to spend US$34 billion more per year on infrastructure by 2050 just to keep pace with its highest-performing peers, currently ranking fourth globally in annual infrastructure spending at US$145 billion. As the Mobilizing Canada’s US$4.7T infrastructure opportunity report explains, that only amounts to 6.6% of GDP, well below the 7.4% invested by peers.
The full forecast, built on Oxford Economics data, projects US$4.7 trillion in cumulative Canadian infrastructure spending from 2024-2050.
Canada’s largest sector, resources, leads with US$1.6 trillion, followed by transportation at US$912 billion, and power at US$605 billion. Defence is Canada’s fastest-growing sector, projected to climb 389% on the back of NATO commitments and Arctic security spending. Digital infrastructure sits at US$237 billion, which is significant on paper, but the report projects Canada will trail both the UK and Australia in cumulative data centre investment by 24 to 28%, despite natural advantages in land, water, renewable power, and climate.
Canada needs to plan differently, says PwC. The country has been planning its infrastructure priorities (energy, defence, digital, transportation, critical minerals) as separate projects. PwC says the opportunity, and the risk, lies in whether those investments come together as connected systems or remain isolated assets.
“Canada’s energy strategy, its defence commitments, its critical minerals potential, and its digital ambitions are being treated as separate conversations. They’re not. They’re one infrastructure challenge,” says Johanne Mullen, Partner and National Leader of Real Assets at PwC Canada. “Canada can exceed its US$4.7 trillion forecast or fall short of it. The difference will come down to the decisions being made now on how we plan, fund, and deliver together.”
Canada also doesn’t produce enough tradespeople to build everything on its wishlist. The report points to Germany’s dual-track programs and Singapore’s dedicated technical institutes as models worth studying.
“We’ve been tracking how value is moving across traditional sector boundaries, and infrastructure is where that shift becomes physical” says Nochane Rousseau, National Managing Partner, Clients and Markets at PwC Canada.
“The rails, grid connections, and digital infrastructure Canada builds over the next 25 years will either accelerate that transformation or hold it back. Mobilizing Canada’s US$4.7T infrastructure opportunity is more than an infrastructure report, it’s a reinvention roadmap for how Canada builds its economic future.”
Final Shots
- Canada ranks fourth globally in infrastructure spending, and still falls short. The gap is in how projects connect, not how many get announced.
- Defence is the fastest-growing sector at 389% projected spending, but NATO commitments and Arctic security pledges are driving that, not a strategic infrastructure vision.
- The workforce pipeline is the constraint nobody is planning for. Canada doesn’t currently produce enough tradespeople to build what it’s already committed to.