77. Infrastructure

Infrastructure can be defined as the basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise. It is the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function. The term typically refers to the technical structures that support a society, such as roads, water supply, sewers, power grids, telecommunications, and so forth. Viewed functionally, infrastructure facilitates the production of goods and services; for example, roads enable the transport of raw materials to a factory, and also for the distribution of finished products to markets. In some contexts, the term may also include basic social services such as schools and hospitals. In military parlance, the term refers to the buildings and permanent installations necessary for the support, redeployment, and operation of military forces.

A substructure or underlying foundation; esp., the basic installations and facilities on which the continuance and growth of a community, state, etc. depend, as roads, schools, power plants, transportation and communication systems, etc. Explore the progression of IT systems and find guidance for improving your organization. Infrastructure Optimization serves as a gauge for IT organizations and provides a logical roadmap to progress from reactive to proactive IT service management.

Critical infrastructure is a term used by governments to describe assets that are essential for the functioning of a society and economy. Most commonly associated with the term are facilities for electricity generation, transmission and distribution, gas production, transport and distribution, oil and oil products production, transport and distribution, telecommunication, water supply (drinking water, waste water/sewage, stemming of surface water (e.g. dikes and sluices)), agriculture, food production and distribution, heating (e.g. natural gas, fuel oil, district heating), public health (hospitals, ambulances), transportation systems (fuel supply, railway network, airports, harbours, inland shipping), financial services (banking, clearing), security services (police, military).

The Corporate Services Branch provides support and services for corporate functions such as procurement, IM/IT including the department’s major program management system, called the Shared Information Management System for Infrastructure (SIMSI), human resources, finance, security, planning and administration, and internal audit and evaluation. By working with municipal, provincial and territorial project proponents and the private sector to identify regional and local development priorities and to finance specific infrastructure projects, Infrastructure Canada is helping meet our national social, economic and environmental objectives.