LOCATION: National/TRAN
Issue/Source: Supply Chains
Date: April 17, 2023
Suggested Responses
- Canada’s trade corridors keep our economy moving. From ports, to airports, to railways and highways, they are the backbone of the supply chains that bring goods to communities and enable businesses to expand into global markets.
- To further strengthen Canada’s transportation supply chains, Budget 2023 has proposed to:
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- create a Transportation Supply Chain Office to work with private and public sector partners to improve coordination, response to disruptions and to increase the capacity, efficiency, and reliability of Canada’s supply chains;
- develop a collaborative and long-term transportation infrastructure plan; and
- develop and use transportation supply chain data to reduce congestion, improve performance, and inform future planning.
- These measures are a down payment on Canada’s National Supply Chain Strategy, which will be released in the coming months and informed by the recommendations of the National Supply Chain Task Force final report.
- We will continue to make important strategic investments through the National Trade Corridors Fund (NTCF), which has committed over $3.7 billion towards more than 120 projects to date to ease congestion and bottlenecks, while enhancing trade hubs and gateways to make it easier for Canadian businesses to get their products to consumers around the world.
IF PRESSED
Collaboration with Industry Partners
- Strengthening our transportation supply chains in collaboration with industry and other partners is a key part of our strategy to be the competitive and reliable supplier that our global partners need.
Strategic Invesments
- We will continue to invest in projects that reduce bottlenecks and capacity constraints to help strengthen our supply chains while building resiliency against the changing climate.
- The Government has also been investing in digital solutions for transportation infrastructure, and is working with industry to find new ways to drive for efficiency and fluidity in our supply chains.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
- The transportation sector is essential to the success of the Canadian economy. It serves as an integral component of supply chain flow that functions as the backbone of domestic and international trade. In the last three years, global supply chains have been hit with a number of concurrent shocks to the system: the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and severe weather events caused by climate change.
- The National Trade Corridor Fund (NTCF) is helping to ease bottlenecks and congestion in Canada’s transportation system, while enhancing trade hubs and gateways so Canadian businesses can get their goods to consumers around the world. With the additional funding provided in Budget 2022, the program has been allocated $4.7 billion since its launch in 2017.
- Significant investments are being made under the NTCF, with more than 120 projects across the country committed to date. It has also supported projects that both strengthen Canada's digital infrastructure and enhance the efficiency and reliability of our transportation supply chains.
- On October 6, 2022, the National Supply Chain Task Force released its final report, which contained 21 immediate and long-term recommendations, which are being taken under advisement for potential future policy and program direction.
- On November 17, 2022, the Minister of Transport introduced Bill C-33, Strengthening the Port System and Railway Safety in Canada Act. It proposes measures to: amend current legislation and modernize the way Canada’s marine and railway transportation systems operate; remove systemic barriers to create a more fluid, secure, and resilient supply chain; expand Canada Port Authorities’ mandate over traffic management; position Canada’s ports as strategic hubs that support national supply chain performance and effectively manage investment decisions for sustainable growth; improve the government’s insight into ports and their operations; and modernize provisions on rail safety, security, and transportation of dangerous goods.
- Most recently, Budget 2023 highlighted investments that will act as a “down payment” toward the National Supply Chain Strategy, which will be announced in the coming months. Commitments announced in the Budget include:
- $27 million to establish a Transportation Supply Chain Office to work with industry and other orders of government to respond to disruptions and better coordinate action to increase the capacity, efficiency, and reliability of Canada’s transportation supply chain infrastructure;
- Collaborate with industry, provinces, territories, and Indigenous Peoples to develop a long-term roadmap for Canada’s transportation infrastructure to better plan and coordinate investments required to support future trade growth;
- $25 million for Transport Canada and Statistics Canada to work together & develop transportation supply chain data that will help reduce congestion, make our supply chains more efficient, and inform future infrastructure planning;
- Amendments to the Canada Transportation Act to provide the Minister of Transport with the authority to compel data sharing by shippers accessing federally regulated transportation services, and for a temporary extension, on a pilot basis, of the interswitching limit in the prairie provinces to strengthen rail competition; and,
- The launch of a review of the Shipping Conferences Exemption Act to improve marine shipping competition.