NASSCO’s annual Washington, D.C. Fly-In happens this month for the seventh consecutive year, and with rapidly growing membership in Canada, NASSCO has expanded advocacy efforts to support our Canadian members. In November 2025, members of NASSCO participated in the Association’s first Ottawa Fly-In on Parliament Hill.
Guided by the careful planning of First Lake Solutions, NASSCO’s Canadian government relations consulting firm, NASSCO members traveled to Ottawa for a full day of meetings with elected officials and their staff to discuss the importance of trenchless technology, funding and the role of proper assessment of underground infrastructure conditions using NASSCO’s Pipeline Assessment Certification Program.
Key discussion points included recommendations to expand infrastructure investments, to create a $500 million Municipal Asset Management Fund, to expedite the National Infrastructure Assessment and to establish a Center of Excellence for Underground Infrastructure.
Over the course of the Fly-in, NASSCO members had eight separate meetings and met with several political offices, including:
- Policy Advisers to the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure
- Policy Adviser to the Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Nature
- Policy Adviser for the Secretary of State for Labour
- Shadow Minister for Housing
- Members of Parliament for both the Liberals and the Conservatives
From these meetings, six follow-ups were scheduled, which is considered a high success rate for advocacy meetings. To ensure connections continued, a metric was developed to gauge overall NASSCO awareness, knowledge of trenchless technology and support of the officials with whom members met. NASSCO members were asked to rate, on a scale of one to five, the overall receptiveness, overall knowledge and overall support of the officials they met with. The mean results are as follows:
While the inaugural Ottawa Fly-in was just the first step, we know that we have work to do to increase awareness and support among members of Parliament. Plans to accomplish this include:
- Host an educational roundtable and invite MPs to attend
- Share further information and case studies with MPs
- Engage an MP to serve as a “champion” for NASSCO
- Focus on the Centre of Excellence proposal
Overall, the NASSCO meetings were productive and received great support from each decision-maker. Through this commitment, NASSCO ensured that underground infrastructure is no longer out of sight and out of mind. Thank you to the dedicated NASSCO members who took time out of their busy schedules to engage with their elected officials.
Plans are being made now for additional Fly-Ins in Canada and the United States. To learn more and get involved, please visit nassco.org/advocacy.
