- The National Trade Corridors Fund (NTCF) is a $4.6 billion (B) trade-enabling infrastructure program 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.
- To date, the Government of Canada has committed $3.7B in federal funding for 183 projects across the country, leveraging $4.7B in additional investments for an overall total of $8.4B in support of transportation infrastructure projects.
- The “Advancing Supply Chain Digitalization” call for proposals (Digital call) closed on April 11, 2023, and targets projects aimed at strengthening Canada’s digital infrastructure to enhance efficiency and reliability of our transportation supply chains.
SUPPLEMENTARY MESSAGES
- The National Trade Corridors Fund (NTCF) is a competitive, merit-based program that helps fund projects and activities that strengthen the efficiency and resilience of national trade corridors.
- 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.
- Through the NTCF, Transport Canada is supporting improvements to Canada’s roads, rail, air, and marine shipping routes to foster domestic and international trade.
UPDATE
Since the program’s launch in 2017, the NTCF program has completed six calls for project proposals: General, Northern, Continuous calls, Arctic and Northern Call, Increasing the Fluidity of Canada’s Supply Chains and Relieving Supply Chain Congestion at Canadian Ports. A seventh call for proposals, Advancing Supply Chain Digitalization, closed on April 11, 2023. Proposals under this call are now being assessed and funding decisions are anticipated in Summer 2023.
SUPPORTING FACTS AND FIGURES
- The Government has committed $3.7B in funding for 183 projects across the country, representing a total investment of $8.4B.
- To date, 29 NTCF supported projects have been completed.
- Completed projects include:
- The Area V Initiative on the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority’s Fraser Richmond Industrial Lands, entailing site preparation of a 40-acre parcel of land to facilitate the storage and handling of shipping containers at the port; and,
- The Hamilton Port Authority’s Westport Modernization project to upgrade the port’s rail and road networks, as well as the construction of a new dockwall at the port’s busiest pier and a new warehouse for bulk storage.
BACKGROUND
Established in 2017, with a plan to invest $1.9B over 11 years, including $400 million (M) to address urgent transportation needs in the territories, funding was accelerated in 2018 to support the Export Diversification Strategy to diversify Canada’s trade to overseas markets.
Budget 2019 committed an additional $400M for the Arctic and Northern regions, increasing the total NTCF funding envelope to $2.3B.
Budget 2021 provided the NTCF with an additional $1.9B over four years, increasing the NTCF funding envelope to $4.2B, to spur investments in much-needed enhancements to Canada’s roads, rail, and shipping routes, build long-term resilience for the Canadian economy, and support internal and international trade.
Budget 2022 provided the NTCF with an additional $450M over five years, as well as $56M in dedicated funding for the Advancing Industry-Driven Digitalization of Canada’s Supply Chain initiative, to increase the focus on supporting supply chain issues to help ease the movement of goods across Canada’s transportation networks.
Budget 2023 included the Realignment of Previously Announced Spending measure, which reduced $76M from the NTCF’s 2023-24 funding envelope.