How does Canada serve as a model for improving infrastructure asset management capability nationally?
Canada's federal government deliberately channelled funding through its provincial governments over a seven-year period specifically to raise infrastructure asset management capability across the country. That sustained, structured investment significantly increased both the competence of individual practitioners and the total number of qualified people available — and it is now cited internationally as proof that targeted federal funding can systematically lift standards nationwide.
Murray Pugh raised the Canadian model as a direct contrast to what he describes as New Zealand's fragmented and underfunded approach to the same challenge. The comparison carries weight: as of 2023, OECD research ranked New Zealand 29th out of 33 member countries for infrastructure governance overall, and dead last — 33rd out of 33 — for accountability and professionalisation in asset management. Against that backdrop, the Canadian example illustrates what a coherent, nationally coordinated commitment to workforce development actually looks like in practice.
Pugh's point is not simply about spending more money. The Canadian model worked because funding was routed through a federal structure with a clear, long-term purpose: building human capability at scale. New Zealand, by contrast, lacks that coordination layer. The full episode on Listenly explores in detail how this gap in workforce investment compounds the country's already significant infrastructure deficit.
Infrastructure asset management is the discipline of ensuring that physical assets — roads, water pipes, bridges, buildings — reliably deliver the services communities depend on, at the right cost, over their full life cycle. It encompasses planning, maintenance, renewal, and accountability frameworks. Apopo is the lead professional association for this discipline in Aotearoa New Zealand, with 1,300 members, approximately 55% of whom come from local government.
"Unless we invest now, and maybe forego something else, then our children and our grandchildren are going to shoulder a very highly disproportional impact from failing infrastructure."
— Murray Pugh, CEO, ApopoAbout Murray Pugh
Murray Pugh is the CEO of Apopo, the lead professional association for Aotearoa New Zealand's infrastructure asset management community. Under his leadership, Apopo has grown to 1,300 members — a community that includes the engineers, planners, and practitioners responsible for ensuring that New Zealand's roads, water networks, buildings, and public infrastructure continue to function reliably for the communities that depend on them.
Pugh's work centres on advancing professionalisation and raising accreditation standards across the sector. One of the most significant milestones under his tenure has been the creation of the Asset Management Chartered Professional designation — a qualification designed to sit alongside chartered status in other engineering and planning disciplines. This designation has been formally recognised by the World Partners in Asset Management as equivalent to their global certification scheme, giving New Zealand practitioners a credential with genuine international standing.
His authority on the question of capability development — and on how countries like Canada have approached it — is grounded in his direct experience building the professional infrastructure that New Zealand's asset management workforce currently lacks at scale. It is this institutional vantage point that makes his comparison with Canada's federal model both specific and consequential.
See also
Deferred maintenance refers to the repeated postponement of scheduled maintenance, often driven by short political cycles such as New Zealand's three-year electoral terms, which create pressure to cut maintenance budgets rather than fund them consistently.
Apopo has established a designation called Asset Management Chartered Professional, designed to carry equivalent standing to that of a chartered professional in other disciplines — and recognised by the World Partners in Asset Management as equivalent to their global certification scheme.
New Zealand's Infrastructure Commission, Te Wahananga, has published reports stating that for every dollar spent on infrastructure, 60 cents needs to go toward maintenance and renewals, leaving only 40 cents available for new construction.