Location: National
Key Messages:
- The transportation sector is essential to the success of the Canadian economy and serves as an integral component of supply chain flow that functions as the backbone of domestic and international trade.
- Ensuring the strength and resiliency of Canada’s supply chains is a top priority for the Government of Canada.
- A future diverse and skilled transportation workforce is critical to Canada’s economy and an efficient supply chain.
Structural pressures contributing to labour and skill shortages include an aging workforce and the high costs of education and training.
- Transport Canada is working with other federal departments, provinces and territories, and industry, on solutions to get an increased number of workers into the transportation sector.
Summary of Issue / Background:
- The transportation sector is essential to the success of the Canadian economy and serves as an integral component of supply chain flow that facilitates domestic and international trade.
- The ability of supply chains to function effectively and efficiently is dependent on a reliable supply of labour.
- Labour shortages across the transportation sector are causing disruptions to supply chain movements, including grounded airplanes, docked marine shipping vessels, and a lack of available trucking capacity. These disruptions will negatively impact transportation-reliant sectors, including manufacturing, agriculture, and natural resources. The lack of available pilots is a major contributing factor to slow recovery of regional air routes.
- Recent industry estimates show the following projected labour shortages across the transportation sector:
- Trucking – 25,000 to 55,600 by 2023-2035;
- Aviation – 42,000 to 55,000 by 2025-2035;
- Marine – up to 19,000 by 2031-2035; and
- Rail – 4,000 by 2035.
- The Government of Canada recently announced an investment of up to $46.3 million to Trucking Human Resources Canada under the Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program (SWSP). The Driving Economic Recovery project will provide training subsidies and wage subsidies to support the recruitment, training and onboarding of up to 1,400 new truck drivers and 1,200 workers for other in-demand occupations within the trucking sector.
- Through the Oceans Protection Plan, Transport Canada has partnered with schools across Canada to deliver training to underrepresented groups in the marine sector, such as women, Indigenous Peoples, Northerners, and Inuit. The Marine Training Program (MTP) was launched in 2017 and its renewal was announced in 2023 (additional $29.8M) to develop training programs that reflect traditional knowledge, use culturally appropriate learning material, and meet the learning needs of remote coastal communities. It also provides infrastructure, equipment, and new technology to improve and access to training.
- Transport Canada has also negotiated nine reciprocal agreements for the recognition of seafarer credentials with Australia, France, Georgia, Jamaica, Norway, the Republic of Panama, the Republic of the Philippines, United Kingdom and Ukraine.
- It is currently negotiating agreements with seven additional countries to increase the availability of qualified foreign labour pools of seafarers in critical safety positions.