Canada's Core Public Infrastructure Survey: asset management practices, solid waste infrastructure, and culture, recreation and sports facilities, 2022
Released: 2025-02-04
Statistics Canada, in partnership with Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada, is releasing new data from Canada's Core Public Infrastructure Survey for 2022. These data focus on solid waste infrastructure and on culture, recreation and sports facilities. They build on the transportation and water infrastructure data released on October 21, 2024, and cover topics such as the stock, replacement value, condition and performance of Canada's core public infrastructure assets, as well as asset management strategies for them.
Most owners have asset management plans for their infrastructure
In 2022, over half of local and regional government organizations in Canada had asset management plans in place for most of their core public infrastructure. Exceptions were active transportation; public transit; and culture, recreation and sports facilities.
Conversely, most federal, provincial and territorial government organizations did not have asset management plans in place for all nine infrastructure categories.
A higher proportion of urban municipalities had asset management plans, compared with their rural counterparts. Solid waste infrastructure was the sole exception, possibly because rural municipalities predominantly handle solid waste assets.
Less than half of public sector organizations had asset management plans in 2022 for the following infrastructure: active transportation (33%); public transit (37%); and culture, recreation and sports facilities (49%).
In contrast, more than three-fifths had plans for roads (68%), potable water (64%), wastewater (64%), and bridges and tunnels (60%). The share of organizations with these plans also varied by region, with Ontario being the only province where over 90% of organizations had plans for these four infrastructure categories. New Brunswick came in second, with these plans in place for more than three-quarters of organizations, on average.
Among the organizations without an asset management plan at the end of 2022, over one-third planned to adopt this practice within the next four years for all core infrastructure except public transit, for which one-fifth anticipated implementing such a plan in that timeframe.
On average, around 3 out of 10 organizations updated their asset management plans annually, and 20% did so every two to four years. The remainder updated their plans every five or more years, or at an unknown frequency.
Waste disposal assets make up largest share of replacement value of solid waste facilities in most provinces
At the end of 2022, the total replacement value of solid waste assets, which include transfer stations and waste disposal and waste diversion facilities, was $12.9 billion.
The largest portion of this value ($8.0 billion) related to 1,113 active waste disposal facilities, including active dump sites and engineered landfills, as well as incinerators and energy-from-waste facilities. Waste diversion assets, comprising 805 anaerobic digestion, composting and materials recovery facilities, made up one-fifth of the value ($2.5 billion), while transfer stations accounted for the remaining portion ($2.3 billion).
In Nova Scotia (55%) and Prince Edward Island (49%), waste diversion facilities represented the largest share of the replacement value of solid waste assets in each province. In contrast, waste disposal assets made up the largest share in Saskatchewan (85%).
In 2022, two-thirds of solid waste assets in Canada, considered in terms of replacement value, were rated in good or very good condition (66%), while one-fifth (20%) were rated in fair condition. In terms of replacement value, less than one-tenth of waste diversion assets were in poor or very poor condition in all provinces, except Manitoba (23%).
While the year of construction of more than one-fifth (21%) of waste disposal assets was unknown, most facilities for which the year was known were built prior to 2000 (64%). Yukon was a notable exception, with construction of more than half (53%) of its waste disposal assets having been completed during the period from 2010 to 2022. By contrast, waste diversion assets in Canada were newer, with the majority constructed after 2000 (61%).
Local and regional organizations own the majority of culture, recreation and sports facilities
A large majority (83%) of public culture, recreation and sports facilities, considered in terms of replacement value, were owned by local and regional organizations, mostly municipalities (79%). However, there were exceptions: local and regional organizations owned 45% of the value of multi-purpose facilities other than multi-purpose sports centres, 41% of Indigenous culture facilities and 39% of museums and archives.
Most culture, recreation and sports facilities were constructed prior to 2000. However, a larger share of some types of facilities were built since 2000: for example, outdoor facilities (60% of outdoor specialty areas, 51% of outdoor sports facilities and 41% of parks), Indigenous culture facilities (44%) and multi-purpose sports centres (44%). On average, more culture, recreation and sports buildings were constructed annually from 2020 to 2022 (323 buildings per year) than during the previous periods.
Publicly owned culture, recreation and sports facilities in Canada had a total replacement value of $154.1 billion in 2022. Indoor ice arenas, excluding those with spectator capacity of 1,000 or more seats, had the highest value (15% of the total), followed by parks (13%), community centres (12%) and multi-purpose sports centres (10%). Facilities in poor or very poor condition had a replacement value of $19.4 billion at the end of 2022 (13% of the total), with New Brunswick (23% of the total), British Columbia (22%) and Manitoba (19%) most likely to report facilities in poor or very poor condition.
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Note to readers
New data on the daily capacity of water treatment facilities in 2022 and on the number of sustained boil water advisories in place on December 31, 2022, are now available upon request.
Throughout this release, the term "public" refers to an asset being owned or leased by the federal, provincial, territorial, regional and municipal orders of government.
Data are based on responses from approximately 3,026 organizations. The following organizations are included in the survey:
- federal departments and Crown corporations
- provincial and territorial departments, ministries and Crown corporations
- regional governments, intermunicipal organizations and local government business enterprises
- urban and rural municipalities.
An urban municipality, for the purposes of Canada's Core Public Infrastructure Survey, has at least 75% of its population living within a population centre. All other municipalities are considered rural.
The inventory count of culture, recreation and sports facilities may not be comparable to previous years due to changes in the definitions of assets. For 2022, inventory counts included buildings (ice facilities, indoor pools, multi-purpose buildings, arts and culture facilities, and other facilities), and outdoor facilities (parks, other). However, for previous years, the inventory count represented any culture, recreation or sports dedicated amenities. Please see table 34-10-0065 for the inventory of culture, recreation, and sports amenities for years 2020 and prior.
The estimated replacement values represent the approximate cost, at the end of the reference year, that would be required to replace the assets, including demolition costs, but excluding land costs and overhead. These values differ from the book value (accumulated cost) and measures of gross stock, as they consider current prices (inflation), as well as other factors that impact prices at the time of the estimate, including modern construction techniques and materials.
Respondents were provided the following condition rating scale when asked to rate the overall physical condition of their assets:
Very poor: Immediate need to replace most or all of the asset. Health and safety hazards exist that present a possible risk to public safety, or the asset cannot be serviced or operated without risk to personnel. Major work or replacement required urgently.
Poor: Failure likely and substantial work required in the short term. Asset barely serviceable. No immediate risk to health or safety.
Fair: Significant deterioration is evident; minor components or isolated sections of the asset need replacement or repair now, but the asset is still serviceable and functions safely at an adequate level of service.
Good: Acceptable physical condition; minimal short-term failure risk but potential for deterioration in the long term. Only minor work required.
Very good: Sound physical condition. No short-term failure risk and no work required.
Respondents were provided the following maturity scale when asked to rate the maturity level of their organization's asset management planning:
Aware (Level 1): Our approach to asset renewal focuses on reacting to basic needs (e.g., growth, regulations and known problems). We evaluate priorities based on available information, staff experience, and input from council and management.
Developing (Level 2): We have draft asset management plans for some asset classes, with forecasted financial needs based on estimated data.
Competent (Level 3): We have asset management plans for critical services, based on a mix of estimated and actual data. Our asset management plans include available information about level of service (current and target) and risk management. Our asset management plans identify short-term issues and priorities.
Optimizing (Level 4): We have asset management plans for most services based on actual data. Our asset management plans include basic needs forecasting and risk management strategies for critical assets. Our asset management plans are based on both short- and long-term issues and priorities. They balance short-term service objectives with longer-term goals and risks. We keep our asset management plans up to date through normal business.
Excellent (Level 5): We have asset management plans for all services based on actual data. Our individual asset management plans are integrated across services. Our asset management plans include needs forecasts and risk management strategies for most assets. Plans address risks to both service and business goals.
Solid waste assets
Anaerobic digestion: A controlled and managed biological process that uses microorganisms to break down organic material in the absence of oxygen.
Composting: A managed, biological process through which organic matter is degraded under aerobic conditions to a relatively stable, humus-like material called compost.
Material recovery facility: A facility in which recyclable materials are removed from waste, or mixed recyclable materials are sorted into distinct categories and prepared for shipment.
Engineered landfill: A landfill designed to meet or exceed jurisdiction of authority requirements for the protection of the environment and human health. The design incorporates both the attributes of the natural environment and supplements them with the necessary engineered systems to achieve the required level of protection.
Incineration: The burning of waste in an incinerator is essentially a rapid oxidation process that generates heat and converts the waste to the gaseous products of combustion, namely carbon dioxide and water vapour, which are released to the atmosphere.
Energy-from-waste: Technologies that process waste using high temperatures to reduce the quantity of material requiring disposal, stabilize the material requiring disposal, and recover energy and potentially material resources.
Contact information
For more information about why the survey was conducted and how it will inform infrastructure policy and program development and investment decisions, please contact Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada (toll-free: 1-877-250-7154 or 613-948-1148 or by email at info@infc.gc.ca) or Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada Media Relations (toll-free: 1-877-250-7154 or 613-960-9251 or by email at media-medias@infc.gc.ca).
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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