LOCATION: National
Issue/Source: Transport Canada Programs
Date: June 2025
Suggested Responses
- Transport Canada is committed to nation-building through investments in strategic transportation infrastructure that will serve to diversify Canada’s trade, support economic growth, enhance northern development, and strengthen Canada’s Arctic sovereignty.
- Through programs like the National Trade Corridors Fund, Transport Canada is supporting improvements to Canada’s roads, rail, air, and port infrastructure to foster domestic and international trade.
IF PRESSED
- The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring that our supply chains are efficient and reliable to help create middle-class jobs and help build an economy that works for everyone, as well as to ensure that Canadians have timely access to affordable goods.
- Since 2017, under the National Trade Corridors Fund, a program that supports trade-enabling infrastructure projects across the country, the Government of Canada has invested $4.1 billion in federal funding for 214 projects across the country, leveraging total investments of approximately $10.5 billion.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Projects that have been announced
National Trade Corridors Fund Investments
The National Trade Corridors Fund is a dedicated source of funding that helps infrastructure owners and users to invest in the critical assets that support economic activity and the physical movement of goods and people in Canada.
Since 2017, the National Trade Corridors Fund has approved 214 strategic projects across Canada. A total of $4.1 billion in National Trade Corridors funding has been committed, leveraging a total of $10.5 billion in investments.
These investments include:
- Prince Rupert Port Authority - At the Port, the federal government is injecting $153.7 million of investments for three separate projects, representing a total investment of $311 million, at the Port of Prince Rupert to support trade infrastructure projects.
- The Port and CN are partnering on a $122 million project - $60.6 million of which is coming from NTCF – to construct a new double track bridge across the Zanardi Rapids, rehabilitate the existing single track Zanardi Bridge and expansion of the causeway between the Zanardi Bridge and Ridley Island, to reduce operational conflict.
- The Ridley Island Export Logistics Platform project received $49.85 million towards rail infrastructure. The project’s total cost is nearly $100 million and focuses on an expansion of the existing Road, Rail and Utility Corridor to enable unit train access.
- The Metlakatla Development Corporation received $43.3 million for the $89 million Metlakatla Import Logistics Park project. The project consists of a 25-hectare site development on South Kaien Island that will be fully integrated into DP World’s Fairview Container Terminal.
- Montreal Port Authority - Development of a container terminal in Contrecœur - Federal funding $150 million, total project costs $1.4 billion, including a contribution of $130 million from the Quebec government. The addition of a new container terminal in Contrecœur will increase the capacity of the Montreal Port Authority's facilities and enable it to meet the growing demand for freight transport, as well as strengthen its competitiveness and resilience in the containerized goods sector. This will reinforce the Port of Montreal's strategic role as an international trade hub for Canadian companies.
- Province of Nova Scotia - Trans-Canada (Highway 104) Twinning, Sutherlands River to Antigonish) - The Government of Canada invested $90 million (project total cost $404 million) in the design, construction, and opening of a 38 km twinned section of Highway 104 in partnership with the Province of Nova Scotia. This twinning project alleviates bottlenecks and facilitates approximately 15-20% of the province's trade, as well as nearly 50% of the trade between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.
- Vancouver Fraser Port Authority - Burnaby North Shore Rail Corridors Improvement Project: The Government of Canada has invested $111.9 million (total project cost $289 million) to improve the capacity and efficiency of transportation infrastructure through Canada’s largest bulk trade corridor. The project included upgrading the ventilation system for the Thornton Tunnel, building 5.5 km of track adjacent to the existing double-tracked corridor, and designing and raising Douglas Road so it crosses over the existing CN railway corridor.
- Province of Saskatchewan – Highway 6 and 39: The Government of Canada invested $72.6 million (project total cost $150.8 million) to support Saskatchewan’s long-term strategy to ensure Highways 6 and 39 keep pace with the growth of the Global Transportation Hub located in Regina. This project is part of a larger trade strategy vital to ensuring that all feeder highways to the Global Transportation Hub maintain a fluid movement of commodities through this segment of the trade corridor. Industry benefits include the shipping of Canadian mining, agriculture, and oil and gas production.
NTCF Projects in the North
Projects in Canada’s Arctic that receive funding from the NTCF are supporting transportation infrastructure such as ports, airports, all-season roads and bridges and will enhance safety, security, and economic and social development in Canada's three territories. The projects are addressing the unique and urgent transportation needs in Canada's territorial North, such as access to domestic and international markets, economic opportunities, communities and essential services despite difficult terrain, severe climate conditions and the high cost of construction along Canada’s northern trade corridors.
- Government of Yukon - Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport Improvements – the Government of Canada invested $186.2 million (project total cost $258 million) to complete major upgrades and expansions to airport infrastructure at the Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport. The project will improve safety measures, climate resilience, and increase the capacity of Yukon’s transportation network to support economic growth in the mining and tourism industries. In addition to upgrading the airport’s critical infrastructure, the project aims to enhance safety measures and increase operational capacity to better support Yukon’s mining and tourism sectors.
- Government of the Northwest Territories – Frank Dehk’e Channel Bridge – The Government of Canada is investment $52.5 milllion (project total cost $70 million) to the Dehk'e' Frank Channel Bridge Replacement project with the Government of Northwest Territories. The project includes the construction of a new bridge located on the Northwest Territories Highway 3 to ensure the reliability and safety of the route for all traffic volumes. The bridge is essential to maintaining the fluidity of north-south Canadian trade and its replacement encourages modern, reliable and efficient transport, which is critical to existing and future economic development.
High Arctic Community Harbour Infrastructure Initiative:
Through this initiative, the Government of Canada is providing up to $76.5 million to the Government of Nunavut for the design and construction of community harbours in Grise Fiord and Resolute Bay, Nunavut. An additional $1.5 million per year will be provided for harbour operation and maintenance for up to 50 years. These projects are part of the $190 million in federal infrastructure investments that were announced alongside the establishment of the Tallurutiup Imanga National Marine Conservation Area in 2019 and the associated Government of Canada – Qikiqtani Inuit Association Inuit Impact and Benefit Agreement.
Projects that are being discussed:
- Alto High-Speed Rail initiative: On Feb 19, 2025, the Prime Minister announced it would be moving forward with the Alto High-Speed Rail (HSR) initiative. Alto HSR consists of building a new electric intercity passenger rail system over 1,000 km in length and reaching speeds of up to 300 km per hour to serve Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Montréal, Laval, Trois-Rivières and Québec City.
- Robert Bank Terminal 2: Future marine container terminal at the Port of Vancouver. It will increase container trade capacity by more than 30% on Canada’s west coast, enable the trade of $100 billion in goods annually, and add 320 acres of usable waterfront industrial land in one of the most industrial land-constrained regions in North America.
- Baffinland Iron Mines - The Mary River Project - located on northern Baffin Island in Nunavut’s Qikiqtani Region, the project involves the extraction of high-grade iron ore at a planned production rate of 18 million tonnes per annum. Initially approved in 2012, the project included a 149-km railway connecting the mine site to a proposed deep-water port at Steensby Inlet. In 2023, Baffinland confirmed its intention to proceed with construction of the southern railway and port. The development will require approximately 300 km of linear rail track.
Projects that provide opportunities for Canada’s steel and aluminum industries:
National Trade Corridors Fund Investments:
- Hamilton Oshawa Port Authority – Pier 15 Rail and Transload Facility – The Government of Canada invested $4.9 million (project total cost $9.8 million) for the construction of the rail transload facility on Pier 15 at Port. The facility includes a pre-engineered building complete with drive through bay doors and loading docks and rail track that offers streamlined storage and handling to enable transloading of steel products from the facility to rail or truck. The project will allow the Port of Hamilton to:
- Enable to the movement of steel products from western Canada by rail into the Southern Ontario market.
- Contribute to a more robust steel supply chain with increased storage, handling, and transload capability of steel products at the port.
- Trois Rivières Port Authority - Reconstruction project of Pier 17 and construction of a new Pier 16 - The government of Canada invested $87.1 million (total project cost of $312 million) for the reconstruction of Pier 17 and construction of Pier 16 that will allow an increase handling capacity from 265.4 metric tonnes for alumina to 345 metric tonnes, and a potential increase in alumina and aluminum traffic of 827,000 metric tonnes.