--- canonical_url: "https://csls.ca/research/a-new-role-for-cost-benefit-analysis-in-canadian-transportation-infrastructure-investment/" title: "A New Role for Cost-Benefit Analysis in Canadian Transportation Infrastructure Investment" author: name: "CSLS" url: "https://csls.ca/author/cslc/" date_published: "2026-07-02T12:51:18+00:00" date_modified: "2026-07-02T12:51:18+00:00" post_type: "research" summary: "" post_tag: - "Canada" - "cost-benefit analysis" - "democratic deliberation" - "discourse theory" - "public policy" - "transportation infrastructure" - "Vancouver airport" - "welfare economics" country_focus: - "Canada" province_region: - "National" research_theme: - "Fiscal Policy" - "Sector/Industry Analysis" featured_image: "https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/old-reports_hero_banner_bg.webp" status: "publish" --- # A New Role for Cost-Benefit Analysis in Canadian Transportation Infrastructure Investment Canonical URL: https://csls.ca/research/a-new-role-for-cost-benefit-analysis-in-canadian-transportation-infrastructure-investment/ # A New Role for Cost-Benefit Analysis in Canadian Transportation Infrastructure Investment [Download full PDF report](https://csls.ca/pdf/csls2016-02-1.pdf) Cite this report × Cite this report as: Lewis, David, and Ian Currie. 2016. “A New Role for Cost-Benefit Analysis in Canadian Transportation Infrastructure Investment.” CSLS Research Report 2016-02. Ottawa: Centre for the Study of Living Standards. https://csls.ca/research/a-new-role-for-cost-benefit-analysis-in-canadian-transportation-infrastructure-investment/ ## Authors: - David Lewis Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS) - Ian Currie Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS) ## Report 2016-02 March 2016 56 pages ## Related research [Living Standards Domain of the Canadian Index of Wellbeing Andrew Sharpe, Christopher Ross November 2011 | Report 2011-17 | 124 pages](https://csls.ca/research/living-standards-domain-of-the-canadian-index-of-wellbeing-2011-17/) [Measuring the Appropriate Outcomes for Better Decision-Making: A Framework to Guide the Analysis of Health Policy Matthew Calver March 2016 | Report 2016-03 | 132 pages](https://csls.ca/research/measuring-the-appropriate-outcomes-for-better-decision-making-a-framework-to-guide-the-analysis-of-health-policy-2016-03/) [Productivity: Key to Economic Success Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS) March 1998 | Report 1998-01 | 99 pages](https://csls.ca/research/productivity-key-to-economic-success/) [Apprenticeship in Canada: A Training System Under Siege? 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The authors examine the microeconomic foundations of traditional CBA models. They find them too narrow to support the promise of CBA as a materially useful tool to help arrive at evidentiary consensus on major transportation infrastructure projects. To achieve its full promise, CBA requires an integration of advances in welfare economics, probability, discourse theory, and capability analysis. A framework for a reformulated CBA is presented along with an application of the approach in the case of gaining community evidentiary consensus on expansion of the Vancouver International Airport in the early 1990s. Potential implications for the federal government infrastructure policies today are explored and recommendations are made. Encourager un recours accru à l’analyse coûts-avantages (ACA) comme cadre organisateur pour faciliter des processus démocratiques discursifs constitue un domaine dans lequel le gouvernement fédéral canadien pourrait redynamiser son rôle dans le développement des infrastructures de transport et des infrastructures physiques en général. Les auteurs examinent les fondements microéconomiques des modèles traditionnels d’ACA. Ils constatent que ceux-ci sont trop restreints pour tenir la promesse de l’ACA comme outil utile sur le plan factuel pour parvenir à un consensus fondé sur des données probantes au sujet de grands projets d’infrastructure de transport. Pour réaliser pleinement son potentiel, l’ACA nécessite une intégration des avancées en économie du bien-être, en théorie des probabilités, en théorie du discours et en analyse des capacités. Un cadre pour une ACA reformulée est présenté, accompagné d’une application de cette approche au cas de l’obtention d’un consensus communautaire fondé sur des données probantes concernant l’expansion de l’Aéroport international de Vancouver au début des années 1990. Les répercussions potentielles pour les politiques d’infrastructure du gouvernement fédéral aujourd’hui sont explorées et des recommandations sont formulées. [Download full PDF report](https://csls.ca/pdf/csls2016-02-1.pdf)