The Ministry of Infrastructure’s aim is to make Ontario a world leader in infrastructure planning. To achieve this, the ministry will build on infrastructure planning processes that reflect sound asset management principles rooted in comprehensive data about the condition, function and utilization of infrastructure assets. The ministry also intends to ensure that infrastructure priorities reflect community needs, informed by a framework that considers the macroeconomic impacts of infrastructure investment.

The Ministry of Infrastructure is undertaking extensive jurisdictional research and consulting with industry experts to identify best practices in infrastructure planning and prioritization. Research is currently being undertaken on prioritization methodologies used in New Zealand, New South Wales (Australia), Queensland (Australia), the United Kingdom and other jurisdictions. The identification of best practices from this research is already informing development of the preliminary phases of the Planning and Prioritization Framework for infrastructure investments.

In addition to jurisdictional research and consultations, the Ministry of Infrastructure is planning to leverage research from academic publications on prioritization tools, such as Multi-Criteria Analysis. This form of analysis is currently employed in the United Kingdom, South Korea, Ireland, Chile, Australia and by organizations such as the World Bank, and is an advanced approach used to compare infrastructure investment proposals. The lessons learned from the research into the use of Multi-Criteria Analysis and other prioritization approaches will help to further inform the way evidence-based infrastructure investment decisions are made in Ontario.