Canada's National Infrastructure Assessment

On November 27, 2025, the Canadian Infrastructure Council (the Council) released Canada's first National Infrastructure Assessment, Building Foundations for Tomorrow: Assessing Housing-Enabling Infrastructure Across Canada (NIA Report 1).

With demographic changes, increasing climate risks, and housing pressures, Canada's infrastructure systems are under growing strain. Communities need adequate water and wastewater systems, public transit, and solid waste management services to support housing growth and accommodate more residents.

The Council focused NIA Report 1 on essential housing-enabling infrastructure, including: water and wastewater; public transit and active transportation; and, waste management, and the challenges these systems face due to population growth and climate change.

Throughout 2025, the Council engaged broadly with experts and leaders across Canada, released a What We Heard report summarizing key insights, and published a series of technical papers on clean water and sanitation, solid waste management, and community mobility systems to inform and build the foundation for the development of the first NIA.

Together, these publications provide an evidence-based picture of Canada's housing-enabling infrastructure, showing where systems are under pressure, where investments can have the greatest impact, and how communities can build for a more resilient future.

Ongoing work: NIA Report 2

Following the release of NIA Report 1 in 2025, the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure and Minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada has directed the Council to deliver a second National Infrastructure Assessment (NIA Report 2) with a continued focus on the infrastructure needed to build more homes (e.g., water and wastewater, waste management, public transit and active transportation).

In developing NIA Report 2, the Council will build on the foundation of the first report by:

• assessing long-term housing-enabling infrastructure needs at a more detailed community level, including identifying specific gaps in data and concrete recommendations to address these gaps;
• identifying opportunities and best practices to unlock private sector investment and advance innovative delivery models; and
• identifying tools and practices that can enable communities to optimize and strengthen the performance and resilience of their existing infrastructure.

The Council will continue to engage with municipalities, provinces and territories, Indigenous organizations, industry, and other experts to ensure a broad range of perspectives and expertise, and to reflect the feedback from these partners in its analysis.

For more information on the Council and its work, please visit the Canadian Infrastructure Council website or sign up for its mailing list.

Background

The Canadian Infrastructure Council is an arm's-length expert advisory body established by the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure on December 3, 2024.

The Council's mandate is to provide all orders of government with impartial, evidence-based research and analysis – developed openly and transparently – to help improve infrastructure planning and decision-making in Canada. Reporting to the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure and Minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada, the Council will develop National Infrastructure Assessments, conduct evidence-based research or analysis on key infrastructure issues, and provide any additional analysis or advice on matters requested by the Minister.