LOCATION: National
ISSUE/SOURCE: The Establishment of the National Supply Chain Office
Date: May 2025
Suggested Responses
- In an increasingly complex and unpredictable world, well-functioning transportation and logistics supply chain systems are essential for Canada’s internal and international trade growth and diversification.
- The National Supply Chain Office was created on December 1, 2023, to provide a federal focal point and lead efforts to strengthen Canada’s supply chains.
- It works across governments and with industry to build a more efficient, fluid, resilient and reliable national supply chain system to ensure goods move smoothly within Canada and to international markets.
- Specifically the Office: provides overarching leadership to identify, assess and respond to specific domestic and international supply chain issues, including during supply chain disruptions;
- works with private and public partners to improve system-wide performance and efficiency; and
- advances data sharing opportunities for end-to-end supply chain visibility and digitalization to optimize systems, enable evidence-based decisions, and improve competitiveness, productivity, and market access.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
- Back-to-back disruptions (i.e., COVID, atmospheric rivers, wildfires) and impacts from changing geopolitics have exposed structural issues in Canada’s transportation and logistics supply chain systems that, if not addressed, will severely limit Canada’s trade growth and diversification agenda.
- The National Supply Chain Office was created on December 1, 2023, to provide a federal focal point and lead efforts to strengthen the efficiency, fluidity, resilience, and reliability of Canada’s transportation and logistics systems. It looks at the transportation and logistics sector with an end-to-end supply chain view – covering the movement of goods, domestic and trade-related, across all modes.
- Through collaboration with industry, labour, Provinces and Territories, and other stakeholders, the Office advises on and develops supply chain strategy for Canada. Within the federal government, it promotes alignment and integration with trade and industry, as well as security and border strategies. The Office’s work includes:
- working with users and operators, as well as provinces and territories, to identify system-level constraints in supply chains and drive tactical solutions to enhance efficiency, fluidity, resilience and reliability. This includes working with stakeholders to overcome cascading impacts resulting from limitations to loading grain in rainy weather, to ensure Canada’s grain gets to market when our trading partners need it;
- working with supply chain users and operators to understand the impacts of disruptions, advise on response, and support recovery as appropriate;
- supporting Transport Canada’s efforts to advance horizontal data and digitalization initiatives, including by leveraging data and digitalization to pursue cost-effectiveness and facilitate a systems view;
- co-developing systems-wide performance metrics with industry;
- creating and supporting engagement mechanisms, such as the Ministerial Supply Chain Advisory Council;
- driving alignment and coordination within the federal family on supply chain issues (such as supply chain disruptions, digitalization initiatives, etc.); and
- supporting regulatory streamlining and alignment to reduce administrative burden on industry; and
- collaborating with industry and other levels of government to position Canada for the long-term, including by assessing capacity of Canada’s trade infrastructure.
- Throughout 2024, the National Supply Chain Office engaged with stakeholders, provinces and territories, and Indigenous groups on the development of a national transportation supply chain strategy. This work has provided an important basis for ongoing collaboration on new priorities and challenges in 2025.