LOCATION: National
ISSUE/SOURCE: Building Canada’s Trade and Transportation Corridors
DATE: July 2025
SUGGESTED RESPONSES
- Building the strongest economy in the G7 is the Government of Canada’s overarching goal. This starts with creating one Canadian economy and building new infrastructure at speeds not seen in generations, including infrastructure to diversify Canada’s trading relationships.
- The Government is working closely with provinces, territories and Indigenous Peoples to identify and catalyze projects of national significance, while reducing the time needed to approve a project from five years to two.
- The Government is committed to developing Canada’s trade and transportation corridors that can make the greatest contribution to interprovincial and international trade, prioritizing areas where growth is held back by infrastructure capacity constraints.
IF PRESSED – Canada’s Arctic
- Building the Arctic’s economy, security and sovereignty is a priority for the Government. This includes investing in dual-use infrastructure such as ports, highways and airstrips.
- Dual-use infrastructure investments meet both civilian and defence needs, improve regional connectivity, boost economic growth, and strengthen Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
- The Speech from the Throne highlights the Government’s commitment to to build Canada strong by working closely with provinces, territories and Indigenous Peoples to identify and catalyze projects of national significance. These projects will connect Canada, deepen Canada’s ties with the world, and create high-paying jobs for generations.
- The Prime Minister’s mandate letter emphasizes how Canada must build an enormous amount of new infrastructure at speeds not seen in generations, including infrastructure to diversify our trading relationships.
- On June 2, 2025, First Ministers met in Saskatoon to discuss shared priorities. A main focus of discussion was nation-building projects, notably projects that bring Canada together, diversify our economy, and help Canada export to new markets and really move the economy forward. Priority projects meeting this criteria would benefit from the fast-tracking of approvals.
- The Speech from the Throne further committed to the creation of a new Major Federal Project Office to reduce the time needed to approve projects of national significance from five years to two, all while upholding Canada’s world-leading environmental standards and its constitutional obligations to Indigenous Peoples. The Government will also strike co-operation agreements with every interested province and territory within six months to realize its goal of “one project, one review.”
- International trade is a key driver of the Canadian economy, accounting for approximately 65% of the Gross Domestic Product. Trade is expected to continue to grow by two to three per cent per year by 2030. In Canada, one in six jobs are linked to exports.
- Recent trade volatility has demonstrated that Canada needs to accelerate its major project development and reduce its economic dependency on the U.S. market. This includes increasing investor certainty and creating the right conditions to attract investment capital into major Canadian infrastructure projects to ensure that exports can reach internal and international markets to support Canada’s competitiveness and responsiveness to global market shifts, while boosting productivity and stimulating economic growth.
- Since 2017, the Government has committed over $4.1 billion towards trade-enabling transportation infrastructure projects across Canada through the National Trade Corridors Fund. More than $300 million has also been committed as part of the $1.5 billion Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund, which supports both transportation and energy infrastructure investments.
Canada’s Arctic
- The Arctic is emerging as a region where economic opportunity and evolving geopolitical dynamics increasingly intersect. However, Canada's Arctic transportation infrastructure remains limited, aging and unevenly distributed—posing persistent challenges to industry development, resource extraction and regional economic growth. The North continues to face significant infrastructure deficits, which are more acute than in other parts of the country.
- Addressing these gaps is critical to supporting economic development in the Arctic and enhancing Canada’s trade corridors, particularly as global interest in Arctic shipping routes and resources increases. It is also necessary for enhancing regional connectivity for Indigenous and Arctic communities.
- Given the region’s vast distances and challenging conditions, infrastructure that can serve multiple purposes offers a more practical and efficient approach.
- Strategic investments in dual-use infrastructure—assets that are intentionally designed to serve both civilian and defence purposes—may help address the North’s infrastructure challenges while reinforcing Canada's Arctic presence. Such investments can support community needs, contribute to economic resilience, and strengthen national security through enhanced mobility and operational capacity.
- The Speech from the Throne reaffirmed the Government's commitment to strengthening its presence in the North, recognizing it as a region of growing strategic importance. In this context, the Government of Canada is working collaboratively with provinces, territories and Indigenous Peoples to identify and advance dual-use infrastructure investments.
- Ongoing collaboration at all levels of government is focused on further defining and operationalizing the concept of dual-use infrastructure in the Arctic. Embracing this approach may offer a path to more coordinated, cost-effective development that delivers lasting benefits for regional communities and Canada as a whole.