Transportation is a major contributor to the economy and plays an important role in the wellness of Canadians. It is key to supporting the activity and the economic development of many industries such as the manufacturing and tourism sectors. Transportation not only enables the movement of finished Canadian goods to domestic and international markets, it also allows the movement of inputs needed for Canadian businesses to produce. Likewise, transportation facilitates the movement of people within and between different communities, major urban centres, provinces and countries, by overcoming distances and geographical barriers.
However, considering that Canada is characterized by a vast and sparsely populated territory, with extreme weather conditions, ensuring the safe, secure and efficient movement of goods and passenger in Canada can represent a challenge. In this context, Transport Canada plays a central role in monitoring and reporting on the state of the Canadian transportation system by sharing data and information with the public through its main vehicle, the annual Transportation in Canada report.
As mandated by the Canada Transportation Act of 2007, subsection 52, each year the Minister of Transport must table in both Houses of Parliament an overview of the state of transportation in Canada. This report, submitted by the Minister under the Act, provides an overview of transportation in Canada based on the most current information for all modes of transportation at the time of publication.
The report highlights the role of transportation in the economy and offers an overview of the national and regional transportation networks in terms of infrastructure. It describes major industry and policy developments in the transportation sector during 2020 from an efficiency, safety and security, and environmental perspectives. The report also presents an overall assessment of the Canadian transportation system’s performance in 2020, looking at the use and capacity of the system. It concludes with an outlook on expected trends in the transportation sector.
A statistical addendum to this report is also available. It has information on freight and passenger traffic for each mode, as well as infrastructure statistics. The transportation and economy section shows economic indicators, statistics on labour in the transportation industry, price and productivity indicators, and data on freight trade by mode and country. It also details reported accidents and greenhouse gas emissions.
More data and analysis are also available online through the Canadian Centre on Transportation Data and its Transportation Data and Information Hub .