Canada’s trade-reliant economy depends on an efficient and reliable transportation system to move goods and people and to remain nationally and globally competitive. The National Trade Corridors Fund is a competitive, merit-based program that invests in projects that address capacity constraints and freight bottlenecks across all modes of transport along Canada’s trade corridors to support economic growth across the country. Other key program objectives are to increase the resilience of the Canadian transportation system to a changing climate and ensure it adapts to new technologies and future innovation.
The fund was created in 2017 with a plan to invest $1.9 billion over 11 years, including $400 million allocated to projects that address critical transportation needs in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon. Budget 2019 provided an additional $400 million for projects in Arctic and northern regions, increasing the total funding envelope to $2.3 billion and the total dedicated funding for Arctic and northern regions to $800 million.
On October 23, 2020, Transport Canada launched the fund’s Arctic and Northern call for proposals to address the transportation needs of Arctic and Northern communities, including safety and economic development. This call will allocate up to $400 million to transportation infrastructure projects in Canada's Arctic and Northern regions, which include the territories, the Nunatsiavut region in Labrador, the Nunavik region in Quebec, and the Port of Churchill and related assets in northern Manitoba.
By the end of 2020, nearly all of the fund’s initial $1.9 billion allocation was committed to 89 transportation infrastructure projects across the country, leveraging more than $3.9 billion in total investments by all public and private sector partners. To date, strategic investments have been made to improve the fluidity of the movement of goods in all 4 regional transportation systems.
In Western Canada, 38 projects have been awarded $860 million in funding, for a total investment of $2.1 billion, to build stronger trade corridors to Asia-Pacific markets. This includes projects to:
- support more fluid gateways at our West Coast ports
- expand inland transportation connections
- better enable producers to reach export position, and
- improve north-south highway corridors
In 2020, Transport Canada announced funding for 5 of these projects, including:
- $28 million in federal funding, leveraging $86 million in total investments, for 3 projects to increase export capacity and efficiency of Canadian goods moving through the Port of Vancouver, including:
- expanding the Ray-Mont Logistics off-dock transload facility in Richmond
- doubling on-site rail capacity at the Fibreco terminal in North Vancouver
- improving the Southern Railway of British Columbia’s on Annacis Island to enable better access to auto terminals and off-dock facilities
- $20 million in federal funding, leveraging $109 million in total investments, for 2 projects at rail terminals in the Alberta Industrial Heartland, including the construction of Cando Rail Services Ltd.’s Sturgeon Terminal and the Alberta Midland Railway Terminal Ltd’s Phase 2 expansion project
In Central Canada, 22 projects have been awarded more than $318 million in funding, for a total investment of $703 million. This includes projects to:
- support increased marine traffic through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway System
- reduce delays at border crossings in Ontario, and
- improve fluidity at ports across Quebec and Ontario
In 2020, 2 of these projects were announced. The fund is investing $40.4 million in federal funding, for a total investment of $83.7 million towards:
- Trois-Rivières Port Authority’s project to the increase capacity to transport solid and liquid bulks goods and general cargo, improve the fluidity of current traffic and eliminate bottlenecks, and develop a multimodal platform to efficiently move goods between transportation modes at the Port, and
- City of Montreal’s project to implement a traffic management and optimization system in the municipal road corridors adjacent to the Port of Montreal to reduce traffic congestion around Canada's second-largest port
In Eastern Canada, 14 projects have been awarded more than $252 million in funding, for a total investment of $627 million, to strengthen trade corridors through gateways to Europe, Africa and Asia. This includes projects to:
- improve fluidity at East Coast ports
- expand air cargo capacity at airports, and
- explore options for protecting and sustaining the critical Chignecto Isthmus corridor
In Northern Canada, 15 projects have been awarded with more than $379 million in funding, leveraging total investments of $528 million. The fund is investing to build resilient transportation corridors connecting Arctic communities and positioning the North for future trade opportunities. This includes projects to:
- support air transportation across Arctic and Northern communities and improve air navigation systems
- help modernize and strengthen the resiliency of highways
- develop climate adaptation studies and data optimization tools, and
- undertake feasibility work to establish an all-season road corridor through the Northwest Territories and Nunavut to the Arctic Ocean
Looking ahead, in 2021 Transport Canada will continue working with proponents to advance funded projects, including those announced in 2020, complete the fund’s Arctic and Northern Call for proposals, and begin implementing projects selected under that call. Budget 2021 provided an additional $1.9 billion in funding over 4 years, starting in 2021-22, to support much-needed enhancements in Canada’s roads, rail, and shipping routes, build long-term resilience for the Canadian economy, and support internal trade. Of this new funding, 15 % will be dedicated to improving transportation networks in Canada’s North.