International perspective on infrastructure. Earlier, i had a chance to meet with mexicos current chair of the governors, konogo, the current chair is francisco dominguez, and the incoming chair governor carlos mendosa. And we have both representatives from mexico and canada up here on the stage, were really thrilled to have with us, a total of five premiers from our neighbors to the north, who we very much appreciate everybody making the tremendous effort to come down here and join us. They are going to be joining us for this discussion on infrastructure from an international perspective. I believe that canadas doing some really interesting and Creative Things on infrastructure. So we want to thank each one of you for joining us. We have saskatchewan premiere, scott moe who is the chair of the council of federation, which is our equivalent, sort of like the nga of canada, quebec premier, francois legault, ontario premier doug ford, and new brunswi New Brunswick premier blaine higgs and alberta premier, jason kennedy. Please give them a big nga welcome. Thank you very much, gentlemen, for joining us. Thank you very much. [ applause ] so we have a Great Partnership between the cop and nga and i thank you very much for being here us with. I would like to just start the discussion by asking each of you what your priorities are as it relates to infrastructure and what our states can learn from the approaches and the investments and ill start with you, mr. Chairman. Thank you very much, larry. And thank you to all of the governors here. And thank you for the relationship that we have had over the course of the last year, between the nga and the council of federation, cof, in canada, it is appreciated, and i look forward to it as we move along. Weve done all of the different types of infrastructure in canada, p 3s, public investment, obviously, and really worked with our private sector, to ensure that theres maximum opportunity for that private investment across what is a very integrated economy, whether its across the u. S. , across canada, or i would say even more so, across north america, and what we can do to enhance the opportunity for that stronger continental economy, if you will. And before you invest in infrastructure, you need to have the trade agreements, and i would like to take the opportunity for not only the leadership on the negotiation for our usmca, the modernization of nafta that was in many ways led by the United States of america, to thank you for that, thank you for the ratification. And from canadas perspective, all 13 premieres have put forward bipartisan support for that agreement to be ratified, and ratified very quickly, without delay in our federal parliament. And i think you will see as the weeks go by that you will have that bipartisan support at our federal level. And i think there is one more step for us to building that continental infrastructure that we need to ensure that we have a stronger economy, and not just in our respective nations but across north america. And so i do want to take the opportunity on behalf of all the premiers to say thank you to each and every one of you in this room and the u. S. Administration for the trade agreement we now have. And not to interrupt, but we want to thank you, bought our two organizations and the governors and the premieres working together to try to make this happen, we want to thank you for your leadership as well. [ applause ] so were just going to go down the line and each of you go ahead. My name is francois legault, the premier of quebec, so quebec includes montreal, as you can hear, we speak french in quebec, im a new premiere, i was an entrepreneur, and i started a new party. And last year, we won a majority government for the next four years, so now i are to deliver the goods. And maybe two subjects rapidly i would like to chat with you. First transportation. Large cities in north america will invest a lot in trains, treat cars, subways, streetcars, subways, in the next few years, and there are four Major Companies in the world. You have a company in china called crrc. Ufr a company in germany called simmons. You have a company in france called aztum, and you have a company in quebec called bombardier. Theres no u. S. Company making those products. So i think theres a great opportunity to Work Together, to build a champion of these products in north america. But right now, we have a challenge with buy america and buy american. The requirement of 70 doesnt permit us to integrate our companies together. Second subject, very rapidly, i draw electricity. Quebec has very large surpluses of hydroelectricity. We already have agreement with vermont, with massachusetts, with new york, and were in negotiation with mr. De blasio at the city of new york to export more hydroelectricity, cheap and clean energy. Thank you. Thank you very much. Premier ford. Thank you very much Governor Hogan for inviting us down there and i know on april 21st, april 23rd make the plug. I got to make the plug here. Thank you. We invite all the governors up to toronto. Its one of the most beautiful cities in the world. And i invite the folks listening to us to come up as well. I just want to mention to all of our governors and the next summit of our infrastructure. Thats right. Youre going to be hosting us. And we have some of the experts. We are experts when it comes to p 3s, public, private partnerships. We do over 300 billion a year, ontario alone with the United States. If we were a standalone country, we would be the Third Largest trading partner to the u. S. Were the number one customer to 19 states. Were number two to nine other states. And we would love to have you come up, sit down and talk about Public Private partnerships. Our government is investing 144 billion im going to repeat that, 144 billion into infrastructure. I think thats one of the highest in north america. Were focusing right now on 32 projects with p 3s, totaling 64 billion. Areas like transit, were building one of the largest subway systems in north america to add on to our great subway system of 28. 5 billion. I would like to invite you, your family and friends to come up april 21st, 23rd, maybe well even get to you one of those raptor Championship Team that we have up in toronto and thats probably i think is going to be the playoff time, so we look forward to winning the championship one more time. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. If you reach the playoffs. Well make the playoffs. Premier higgs. Thank you, governor. So im premiere of New Brunswick, and we have the largest refinery in canada. And it would supply product to 80 of the market, boston and north, and through that, in the forestry sector, 40 of the imports of pulp wood goes into maine, and feeds mills, and saw mills. We have 17 Border Crossings between ourselves and the state of maine. So were very integrated. When we talk about integrated economy, were not only integrated in economic terms, but were integrated in family terms. As i said this morning, you know, the borders have become not at one time they were kind of an inconvenience. My dad was a border guard for 25 years, and now, theyve become a barrier, and it is a movement that we have back and forth and i feel like were not trading, were not trading opponents. Were trading partners. And weve always been kind of joined at the hip in that regard. In talking about the infrastructure that we watched here in this video, what i find in partisan politics, very much the priorities dont get set on the needed projects. We dont have flexibility coming from lets say the federal counterparts in order to focus on the needs of a particular province. And we end up building things we dont need. And we do it so we can cut a ribbon an take a photograph. And thats why our infrastructure is in the state its in because we havent been able to focus on an Asset Management program. We havent been able to focus on whats needed to do it in a priority. And certainly, we havent been able to keep it to go from one election, from one government to the next. And now im in a minority government, with a third party kind of working together, so i like, it is hard to say whether ill be hear next year or not but we focus on getting things done as needed, and i think thats what that video was saying. Jason kennedy, alberta, the Rocky Mountain province in the west and we are the single largest supplier of energy to the United States. 40 of your Energy Imports come from my province with the worlds Third Largest accessible oil reserves and also huge natural gas reserves which is an advantage to energy independence. With that Energy Wealth comes the need for enormous infrastructure and were seeking to build Green Infrastructure as we are in the period of Energy Transition and we want to learn from a lot of the states, governor, that are forward leaning on p3s and innovative ways to pay for the infrastructure that the taxpayers cant afford direct limit ill give you a couple of examples. Weve been major investors of government of Carbon Capture utilization and Storage Technology which we think is becking increasingly commercially visual and we are running a carbon truck line from some of our refineries that are capturing carbon and it will be injecting it into the sedimentary conventional oil base ton allow for enhanced oil recovery with a net negative carbon score. So that kind of, thats a sort of p 3 project and we see a lot of opportunity for that in the future. Second point is that albertabased Companies Want to invest billions of dollars in modernizing and expanding Energy Infrastructure in your states. For example, inbridge, the largest Pipeline Company in north america based in alberta is seeking to spend 600 million to modernize the line five project thats 60 years old under the straits of mackinac, to make it safe, buried under the lake bed to be a reliable supplier of energy to the upper midwest for years to come. Just met with the governor of minnesota about their effort as well to replace a 60yearold pipe through minnesota to wisconsin through line three to create modern and safe technology, a lot safer than moving energy by train. And finally the keystone xl project where tc energy is prepared to spend billion of dollars, as you know, through four u. S. States to expand and modernize Energy Infrastructure. So we are committed to becoming, to being really a Global Leader in green tech, in the nonrenewable resource sector, also moving towards renewables, but continuing to be the largest supplier of energy to the United States, hopefully through this modern infrastructure. Thank you very much. So we touched on this a little bit, but the crossborder infrastructure is so vital between our two countries, between our states and provinces. How can your provinces and our states Work Together to improve crossborder infrastructure . Well start with you. I would say we just, we keep discussing, on the state to province level, as well as at our federal administrations. Listen, the benefits are just too large to walk away from. And for instance, you can start with air, of course, but road and Rail Infrastructure of which we desperately need, going across the border and our border ports, of which we had some discussions on, over the course of the late last year with governor bullock and others. But we need the road and Rail Infrastructure so we can bring in those big red tractors and the green combines from illinois, so that we can grow our oats and our canola and send that back down to be refined into canola oil and oats, and you know, create jobs in iowa, and other places in the u. S. So that we can ship this agrifood in around the world and you can see how it is beneficial for not only us in canada, but for the agri Food Processing sector in the u. S. Well, the same holds true, and we would be likely the likely the second Largest Energy producer in the nation barring possibly newfoundland. Were back and forth a little bit. But the Energy Infrastructure that crosses our borders and were doing some within the nation as well. Were just approved for the tmx pipeline going out to the west coast of canada. But the keystone xl pipeline for example, i think we need to remember that same narrative of adding value to a north American Energy product that down in the gulf coast and then shipping that not only to north americans to utilize but around the world. And we need to remember what that product is. It is one of the most sustainable products available compared to products that are coming from other areas around the world. For example, jason premier kennedy, pardon me had mentioned they are using Carbon Capture and storage, we are using Carbon Capture and storage off of coal fired plants and adding that to the cash than is coming out of it was fission plants in north dakota and enhanced recovery and driving down our carbon per barrel of oil. We have the methane action plain in the lloydminster area that is driving down our methane emissions down 40 to 45 . Thats the energy that is going in that pipe along withside other energy that is picked up in montana and north dakota along the way and putting people to work with good careers in the gulf coast, putting people in texas and louisiana to work and providing those jobs and providing the world with comparatively much more suss sane ab sustainable products. So the benefit of us working together with these crossborder efforts is truly, it is truly beneficial. And i would summarize it with this. The benefit of us, and our Canadian Football League of importing American College Football Players, has greatly enhanced the caliber of football in our Football League and i would also say that the benefit of canadian exports of hockey players to the u. S. Has, has greatly enhanced the opportunity for the National Hockey league. And the capitals won not that long ago. And three saskatchewan boys on the st. Louis blues this last time. And the benefits are huge. We should all be striving towards those benefits for our economy. And of course, our professional sports organizations. Thats pretty good. Premier legault. Yes, i think when we talk about infrastructure in 2020, we also need to talk about environment. How can we reduce the Greenhouse Gases in north america, do our share to save the planet . And im very proud to say that if you take the 60 states and provinces in north america, quebec is first. We have the lowest Greenhouse Gas per capita in quebec. The the reason for that is hydroelectricity. We have surpluses that were trying to to export. But even if we have the lowest Greenhouse Gas per capita, we want to do more. So thats why, if one of you, one of the governors, has some projects about electric cars, about electric trucks, about electric buses, and like i said, if somebody is interested to other partnership, with a Company Making trains, subways, and streetcars, i would like to talk to your people, and see what we can do together, because we really need to reduce those Greenhouse Gas. And i think that the young people are asking for that, and we have a responsibility. Thank you, premier ford. Thank you premier legault for entering into, we also produce plane, trains, automobiles, ontario, bombardier, and number two to michigan. Were just slowly just slightly behind i should say michigan. We produce over 2 million automobiles a year. We have the big five up there. But going back to the infrastructure, were looking at Bilateral Agreements with states, so we can work from province to state, governor dewine, i know our group, were working together, to put a Great Program together, to make things easier for the infrastructure folks from ohio to come up and invest. And 144 billion, thats one of the largest Infrastructure Projects in north america that you can get involved in. We have a Great Organization in toronto, and part of the Ontario Government called infrastructure ontario. Theyre experts. Were you know, were one of the best in the world. Ill give a plug to our friends in australia. Theyre good. Weve been doing it for years. We outsource that technology. So if you come up april 21st to april 23rd, we will set you up with the experts and infrastructure ontario and show you folks how we can do Public Private partnerships. But come up. Take advantage of the 144 billion that we have there, the 28. 5 billion subway project that were doing, and a wide range of other Infrastructure Projects. Ontario is an economic powerhouse in north america. Hes quite the salesman. Premier higgs. You know, thinking about the integration between our borders, i think of a project up in northwestern New Brunswick, and northern maine, and we are building theres a new Bridge Infrastructure Program there to connect. And the interesting thing about that area and when we talk about the integration of our trade and our activities, we have a pulp mill on the New Brunswick side of the border, that feeds a paper mill on the maine side of the border. So, the two are linked. We bridge to the south with a lumber agreement and tariffs that are currently on our producers, or at least 50 of our producers. And if you look at the whole supply chain, within between maine and New Brunswick, we have a very integrated flow of chips of pulpwood, of going back and forth that feed the industries on the other side of the border. So the infrastructure that we have, that moves our materials around, is unique, i think, in terms of the integration, but it is strategic in order for us to maintain that business and that business to be viable. Speaking of maine, by the way, governor mills i dont know if she is there, but we will be having our summer meeting in maine and were looking forward to toronto but we also invite to you cross over the border, right from where you are and come to visit us where at governors will be at the summer meeting in maine. Not far to go. To that point, i think we can go to bell island where president roosevelts summer home was. We cant even get to that without going through maine. So we talk about access. Premier kenney. I think your question was about crossborder infrastructure, i would just make one point to echo what we heard from the private sector panel which is how critically important regulatory certainty is and moving forward. You have the same kind of issues . Exactly. Doug can talk to this in ontario but i know i was in the federal government. When we announced the new detroit windsor Border Crossing bridge, the gordy howe bridge, i think in 2010 or 2011, it was a decade ago, and as you know, it became a huge political fight, and years and years and years of delay. The opportunity costs, the infrastructure costs go up. The only people that make money on these deals are the lobbyists and the lawyers. And we have the same thing going on with the keystone xl pipeline which there was a sevenyear process leading to a veto. And then two president ial permits and endless litigation. And finally, it appears to be ready to proceed. But this, you know, investors are not prepared to wait endlessly to risk their shareholders money in these kinds of projects and neither should we as political leaders. When approvals are given, especially on crossborder infrastructure, we have to seize the day and move forward. Very good. Thank you. We will see if there are any quells from our governors. Any questions from our governors. Governor hogan, ill take one. I dont see where that is coming from but jump in. Thank you. Im curious for the premiers, as youre developing and implementing Infrastructure Projects, im curious what your process is in terms of consultation with your First Nations and your partnerships with your First Nations as youre developing these projects. I can speak to that quickly and i know premier kenney will have some words as well as he has developed some very positive processes with the indigenous communities in alberta. We have ill use our forestry sector as an example. In the Northern Area where i live, saskatchewan, its actually central saskatchewan, but everyone refers to it as the Northern Areas where we have really integrated the indigenous communities and people into the forestry sector. We have about a 35 climate rate in the forestry sector. They own businesses that are operating in that sector now, and its been a successful partnership. It compares across the nation to about a 4 saturation of indigenous employment in that particular sector. So, its been successful. Its been successful for communities to be integrated not only in the employment area, but also to be owning businesses, and operating businesses that are working in there, and really to be a part of the sector, if you will. And so that integration, it didnt come easily and it didnt come quickly. It came through long conversations and sometimes two steps forward, one step backwards. But it was most certainly worth it. We have a similar story to tell when it comes to the integration in our uranium Mining Industry in the Northern Areas of saskatchewan as well, another clean fuel source, where theyre running about 46 with northern and aboriginal employment in that industry, with the companies again that have worked hard to achieve those numbers. Its been successful. But theres more work to do. I think premier kenney can speak to that. In canada there is a development of recent jurisprudence that the crown has an obligation to consult with Indigenous People on any structure in their traditional territories. And were finally starting to get clarity about what that means, and you know, it has created some investor uncertainty, and at the same time, it has helped to bend the curve where the private sector is now much more willing to be pro active to engage, to approach First Nations communities, with benefit agreements, and now one of the challenges we find though, is that many of the First Nations want to be partners in prosperity, want to move their people often in remote areas of poverty to opportunity through infrastructure, jobs, construction jobs. But they dont have the financial depth to do so, and in many cases they dont have the financial expertise or experience. So my governments recently created a new crown corporation, a state enterprise, called the indigenous opportunities corporation, backstopped by a billion dollars of our credit to support aboriginal coownership or financial participation in major resource projects. And theres great excitement about this. I brought together all 48 of our indigenous chiefs shortly after being elected and there was virtually unanimity about partners in that approach. Thank you. Governor herbert. Well, thank you. Were honored to have you all here as premiers and welcome. Weve had you here before and we hope you keep coming back. Premiere muller talked about the great athletes in canada and im proud to be the fatherinlaw of one of the greatest Wide Receivers in cfl history, ben calhoun. Yes, sir. You are correct, he was one of the greatest. And the hall of fame. Absolutely. Yes. So we have fond memories of those days. And we appreciate our friends to the north. My question for you is you mentioned, premier kenney, about the delays that occur. And it seems that we have known political fights in the states but sometimes those go into the legal courts, and litigation after litigation after litigation, and long, many years delay. What are you doing in canada that maybe we can learn from . It seems you dont have as much litigation there as i wont be so sure about that. Were in the courts. How long because ive heard at least in calgary, the Energy Things there, once you made a decision we have a need for process there and where were at and once there is a decision made, then dont we come to an end, where there is no more litigation, no more lawsuits . Well, i think we all wish that were true but i dont think it has been our experience. And part of that is because of the recent jurisprudence of the obligation to consult Indigenous People on traditional territories but quite frankly not even the courts were entirely clear what that meant but we had a very important legal decision earlier this week it was on tuesday where the federal Appeals Court said, as long as theres a good faith effort to consult with Indigenous People, a decision, once a decision has been made as being in the public interest, you must proceed. Ill give you one example. Weve got this transmountain pipeline going to the west coast. 129 First Nations were consulted. 120, according to the court, were in favor or not opposed. Only five were opposed. And the court has finally said the five do not get to stop progress for the other 120. So there is now legal, i would say legal clarity for the first time in a long time in canada, at least on that dimension of t time in a long time in canada, at least on that dimension of law. And i think in fairness to that, this process has provided that example of how we all need to do better on consultation and integrating all along the route, into, the opportunity for ownership and participation, and in these resource projects, i spoke to the forestry industry, they truly do want to participate in some meaningful way, and theyre long and broad drownout conversations our neighbor to the north, premiere bo and along with him and premiere, from manitoba, we have really been operating as neighbors because as the number of premieres have said, this isnt just about the built environment that connects us, it is also families, weve got people who grow up in north dakota, that the nearest hospital is across the border, and thats where theyre born, and weve got i want to say thanks for all the premiers who are here today, as a 330 mile long border with canada, we especially want to say hello to our neighbor to the north, premier lego and along with him, for more from manitoba we have really been operating as neighbors, as a number of premiers have said this is not just about the built environment that connects, this is also families. We have people who grew up in north dakota, that the nearest hospital is across the border, and thats where theyre born, and weve got people that are farming on both sides of the border that might be hauling their grain to the nearest Grain Elevators on the other side of the border and this has been going on for hundreds of years. In addition to the built environment, weve also got rivers, weve got two, the Service River and the red river to the north, both of which, one starts in canada, comes down in north dakota, goes back to canada, the other one forms the border of north dakota and minnesota and goes north. We have over 3 billion of flood protection projects going on on those two rivers in north dakota. But we again, the ability for us to have basinwide collaboration on those projects has been fantastic, as we might be two countries but were in one, the water doesnt know which country its in and weve got to Work Together across those things. And the other last thank you i want to say is, and people may not know, of course, this is one of the longest borders in the world that has, for centuries, been between two countries where neither has invaded each other. I guess with the exclusion of the Football Players and the hockey players going back and forth there have been no invasion, but we have, in north dakota, we dedicated, along with manitoba and the country canada, there is International Peace garden, the garden actually spans the border. You can enter the garden and it is an extensive miles long place and you can pass back and forth between the countries and our legislature past year dedicate the 5 million for Infrastructure Projects in there, with the idea it would be a match from canada, and were understanding it is moving forward with the legislatures and we hope to have that happen and when we talk about the First Nations, and the Indigenous People, when it was created in 1930s, there was a beautiful peace chapel built on the border celebrating this amazing relationship between our two countries but it had quotes from 60 leaders around the world around peace. But none of the native nations were represented in that. And so were also going through the process of reestablishing, through flag ceremonies and quotes to get the native nations included in that, so we appreciate on a number of fronts the Great Partnership with our neighbors to the north. And the last thing id say, the economy in north dakota, we have 30 you, 000 jobs open and all of the governors around the table say we dont have to worry about our people going up there to work and we told the mayor ofwinnipeg, were only looking for 30,000 people to move south to north dakota for our solution. I have to correct the governor on a small point of history. There were three invasions, irish in new york state and you guys got loaded up in 1867, and that only lasted for 48 hours. And then governor, youre exactly right, the grant ition of families across the border, in particular, in the close setting where we have a shared border between north dakota and saskatchewan, it is closer than even we may know, as there may be one individual on this stage that has a daughter that is, for the last four years, has been attending msu, in minotte north dakota and looking very much at the und in grand forks and i think eyeing up one of those 30,000 jobs down there at the end of the day. And im honing she comes back to see her father every now and again. I guess i let the cat out of the bag. Youre right about the direct water infrastructure. And that is direct investment for the most part that has been occurring north and south of the border now for decades now on that particular river system that impacts saskatchewan, north dakota, as well as manitoba, and we have a significant size dam, just north of the border, where we have a joint operating agreement on that dam, so that we are always talking with respect to when the gates are open, how they are opening, and that investment is happening north of the border. Doing its best to protect people south of the border. And then coming back, as the water flows back into manitoba. And i know theres been tremendous amounts of infrastructure more recently, invested in north dakota, on that very same river system. And it is really a joint investment coming at it from both sides of the 49th parallel that is for the benefit of so many. And first of all, governor, youre 100 correct, we have the largest unprotected border in the entire world. Theres no two countries that are more intertwined, like this, than canada and the United States. And i know i can speak for all of us, were so grateful to have the greatest neighbor in the entire world, the United States. And one thing, governor, we need 250,000 people up in ontario to fill the jobs. So if you get your 30, 000, send the 250,000 up to ontario. If they came from north dakota to ontario, they would be going down, not up. The whole states, bring them up. I love them. It may be time for one last let me just quickly, were just about out of time, we talked about the usmca, anybody want to weigh in on what this might mean or just touch on kind of where you are in the process and how long it is going to take to get it done and what it is going to mean for you and for us . The process, we, several of us met with representative lighthizer yesterday and with our deputy Prime Minister freeland and we committed everything we can to accelerate this through parliament. It has just been sent to committee. There was a federal election. So we are a little bit behind the scurv in terms of getting this done. But all 13 premieres, as the brieulim keynote address by secretary of state mike pompeo. Please join me in giving a big nga thank you to our premieres for joining us for this panel. [applause] thank you very much. Thank you very much. Campaign 2020 is in nevada today. Live at 3 00 p. M. 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