5. Presentation Deck

To advance legislative, and regulatory, actions to modernize tools the Government, ports, railways and the multimodal dangerous goods regime need to respond to the evolving demands of a complex transportation system.

Bill C-33 would:

• Amend the: Canada Marine Act; Canada Transportation Act; Marine Transportation Security Act; Customs Act; Railway Safety Act; and The Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act.
• Deliver on industry-led recommendations from the Supply Chain Task Force and set the stage for the development of a National Supply Chain Strategy.

Transportation is the backbone of the Canadian Economy, and its efficiency and resiliency rely on fluid integration between each mode to move goods along the supply chain

• Canada's transportation system moves rough ly $1.2 trillion annually in goods to and from international markets.
• Recent economic trends point to major opportunities for Canadian businesses. This year, the dollar-value of Canadian exports is 28.2% higher than July 2021 ($51.5B), while imports are 18.8% higher than July 2021 ($51.2B).
• Ensuring our system is optimized to support fluidity and efficiency of our supply chains remains central to supporting this growth.
• There are four transportation modes: marine, air, rail and road, which are interdependent. A disruption in one of these modes  reverberates throughout the entire supply chain.
• Collaboration amongst the modes and modern tools are key to ensuring seamless and reliable freight movements.

While the foundation remains strong, Canada’s supply chain is experiencing congestion and structural challenges are threatening the competitiveness and resiliency of the transportation system

Evolving factors continue to influence demand, capacity, and the competitiveness of Canada’s port system:

• Capacity is being challenged, as container traffic is expected to grow
• Port congestion is straining gateway fluidity resulting in bottlenecks affecting national supply chains
• A lack of data restricts collaboration and is leading to inefficient supply chain decision making and infrastructure investment
• Ocean liner alliances and terminal expansions are recalibrating the relationships and trade flows
• The number of rail accidents and security incidents in Canada remains persistently high
• Inflationary pressures putting financial strain on the system

The pandemic and recent flooding underscored the importance of ensuring the resilience of Canada’s supply chains

• Managing to ‘just in time’ and ‘just in case’ is a twin imperative
• The number of rail accidents in Canada remains persistently high threatening supply chain resilience and endangering Canadians

Other global events, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine create uncertainty in energy and food markets, adding to global inflationary pressure, concerns over food security and the likelihood of continued risks to supply chains

To respond, the Government launched the Supply Chain Task Force, whose Report is a call to action to improve the resiliency of Canada’s supply chains

• The cornerstone of the Supply Chain Task Force Recommendations focus on action, collaboration, and transformation.
• Calls on government and all supply chain actors to take decisive and immediate action to create a supply chain system that is more agile, flexible, resilient, competitive and efficient than it is today.
• New and ongoing operational interventions will further inform the National Supply Chain Strategy development to address supply chain challenges.
• The recommendations were clear on the role of government and that swift action must be taken to create the environment for supply chains to thrive.

While the Ports and Rail systems have served Canadians well, the underlying frameworks must be modernized to adapt and respond to increasingly complex challenges…….

Amend the Railway Safety Act (RSA)to:

• Provide for additional Ministerial authorities associated with exemptions and rules;
• Authorize the Minister to negotiate assurance of compliance regimes and enter into compliance agreements;
• Provide for a review of the RSA after five years and every five years thereafter;
• Set a broad definition of “safety” to include “security” throughout the RSA;
• Add prohibitions related to unruly or dangerous behaviour on-board trains or at stations; and unlawful interferences with railway operations such as tampering and destructive acts;
• Provide for authorities to require railway companies to create security management systems and for the Minister to order corrective measures in relation to security management systems; and,
• Create the authority for the Minister to grant, cancel and suspend transportation security clearances.

Amend the Canada Transportation Act to:

• Provide for Ministerial authority to use automated systems in decision making; and,
• Provide for the use of telecommunication when entering a place remotely for the purpose of verifying compliance.

Amend the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act to:

• Modify and provide new Ministerial and inspector authorities to provide greater flexibility to address ongoing and emergency safety risks; 
• Create an Administrative Monetary Penalties (AMPs) regime to address a significant enforcement gap in the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Program; and,
• Create a client registration requirement to provide Transport Canada with a reliable and comprehensive inventory of stakeholders who handle, offer for transport, transport or import dangerous goods in Canada.

Amend the Canada Marine Act to:

Enable CPAs to more efficiently manage traffic as intermodal hubs so ports can support gateway efficiency and resilience. Including:

• Establish a regulatory authority for traffic management to enable ports to establish practices and systems, including in respect of anchorage and vessel management, intermodal traffic management and data sharing, etc., to support their role as enablers of supply chain fluidity.

Enable the development of inland terminals as a mechanism to enhance gateway throughput and alleviate congestion.

Establish a streamlined review of port authorities’ borrowing to strengthen their financial position so they are better able to respond to development needs and opportunities.

Strengthen Government policy decision-making by gaining more insight into ports and their activities to help inform supply chain fluidity, and policy decision-making to safeguard ports and supply chains.

Amend the Canada Transportation Act to:

Administrative amendments to reduce the Investment Notification and Review threshold.

Amend the Canada Marine Act to:

• Seek to enable well functioning, diverse and proficient boards by:
  • expanding eligibility
  • amending the membership of some boards, and
  • taking steps to strengthen strategic planning and decision-making for port operations.
• Further promote sound governance by establishing periodic reviews and a regulatory authority to foster efficient and transparent operations.

Amend the Canada Marine Act to:

Create and maintain meaningful relationships with local and Indigenous communities:

• Recognize Indigenous groups alongside users and communities to further support meaningful local and community engagement.
• Require CPAs to establish advisory bodies or mechanisms to enable structured, transparent engagement with:
  • Indigenous communities
  • local stakeholders and
  • local governments.

Amend the Canada Marine Act to:

Align with Canada’s climate change agenda:

• Integrate more systematically environmental considerations into planning and operations, and enhance transparency and accountability on environmental performance.
• Establish a regulatory authority to advance climate objectives and set targets.

Amend the Marine Transportation Security Act to:

Improve Marine Safety and Security:

• Enable the Minister of Transport to enter into agreements to leverage expertise to better address security risks and threats, including cyber security.
• Integrate risk-based decision making, including the ability for the Minister to direct vessels that pose a threat or direct/indirect risk to marine transportation security, or to the health of persons in marine transportation.
• Provide the Minister of Transport the authority to establish interim orders and emergency directions.
• Establish new regulatory authorities to support the Departments robust administration and oversight of Canada’s marine security framework.
• Seek to modernize enforcement by aligning penalties for violations with Canada’s marine safety legislation.

Amend the Customs Act to:

• Expand authority to require and enforce the delivery of containers for inspection to reduce the impact on, and costs to, importers as a result of delays.

• Key initiative: the Minister of Transport will issue a Policy Statement on investment in ports that reaffirm the importance of private investment while placing greater emphasis on broader national and economic security, and competition objectives.