Canada’s infrastructure boom looks a lot less like a distant idea these days and a lot more like a slow-moving reality. The country needs more housing, more power, more grid capacity, more industrial facilities, and more repair work on existing systems. On top of that, AI and data-centre demand are pushing utilities and infrastructure planners to think bigger and faster. That creates a pretty friendly backdrop for companies tied to digging, building, and maintaining the real economy. If you’re a Canadian investor looking to position ahead of that wave, the window to buy before the shovels hit the ground is now.
Source: Getty Images
Governments Are Spending, and Pension Capital Is Circling
The Bank of Canada’s January 2026 Monetary Policy Report was clear that government spending, including ongoing investment in infrastructure, is expected to contribute to growth, and that as businesses adjust to the new trade environment and governments increase infrastructure spending, some modest strengthening in investment is expected. That matters for TSX investors because infrastructure spending often follows exactly those kinds of economic adjustments.
The institutional money is also starting to move. HOOPP — the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, one of Canada’s largest pension funds with over $130 billion in net assets — has stated publicly that it sees a real opportunity for Canadian pension plans to lean into domestic infrastructure opportunities, and that it has money it would love to invest in Canada to help the economic engine and improve productivity.
HOOPP has joined a coalition of major Canadian and Australian pension funds in a first-of-its-kind infrastructure investment pact, with a focus on removing the frictions that are preventing large-scale capital deployment in both countries. When institutional capital starts circling infrastructure projects, the market often moves before the dozers do. That’s the part TSX investors should notice.
Consider BDGI
That brings us to Badger Infrastructure Solutions (TSX: BDGI). It’s not a glamorous name, and that’s part of the appeal. Badger provides non-destructive excavation and related services across North America, mainly through hydro-vac trucks, helping contractors and asset owners dig safely around buried infrastructure. That means exposure to utilities, telecom, energy, municipal work, and industrial construction without having to guess which single project will matter most.
The business results are strong. Badger reported full-year 2025 revenue of US$831.7 million, up 12%, with adjusted EBITDA of US$198.2 million, up 13%, and adjusted net earnings per share rising 21% to US$2.04. Revenue per truck per month rose 5% in 2025 and the fleet ended the year at 1,723 units, up 5% — the actual demand was real, not just accounting noise. Management plans to build between 270 and 310 units in 2026, implying net fleet growth of 7% to 10%.
Shares of BDGI hit an all-time high of $82.57 in January but have since pulled back sharply, trading near $62 today. That’s a roughly 25% correction from the peak. The pullback appears to reflect broader market volatility and some earnings-day selling after Q4 EPS came in below estimates, despite record revenue.
For a long-term Foolish investor, that kind of pullback on strong fundamentals can be a buying opportunity rather than a warning. But it does change the entry-point calculus, and the P/E near 25.7 still asks you to pay up for growth.
Bottom line
The infrastructure opportunity in Canada is real, it’s multi-year, and it’s backed by both government spending commitments and institutional capital looking for a home. Badger doesn’t need to guess which projects get funded — it benefits from all of them. The fleet expansion plan, the revenue-per-truck improvement, and the positioning across utilities, telecom, and energy make it one of the cleaner TSX ways to play the theme.
The main risks are clear: infrastructure spending timelines can slip, the valuation still prices in growth, and the recent price correction is a reminder that the market can be impatient even when the fundamentals are intact. But if you believe the boom is coming — and the evidence suggests it is — Badger looks like the kind of stock that earns its place in a long-term TSX portfolio.
