Preface

As Minister of Transport, I am pleased to present Transportation in Canada 2023, which provides Canadians with an overview of their transportation system at work. 

It has been a busy year for the department, and for me personally since I became Minister in July. As Canada’s aviation sector continued to see an increase in activity since the pandemic, the department took steps to help make sure travellers experienced as little disruption as possible. 

One important step was introducing the Enhancing Transparency and Accountability in the Transportation System Act. The act would allow us to create regulations that would require airports and other operators within airports to create service standards for their part of the passenger journey and require them to publish their performance against these standards. The act would also introduce changes to the Canada Transportation Act to help achieve a barrier-free Canada for people with disabilities.

Another step we took this year was to propose amendments to the Canada Transportation Act to improve air passenger rights and simplify the complaint resolution process. We invested $30 million to build a United States preclearance facility at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, worked closely with our partners at CATSA to launch a Verified Traveller Program at Canada’s major airports, and increased funding for CATSA to reduce delays.

The Aviation Climate Action plan has progressed with the newly launched Sustainable Aviation Task Force, co-lead by Transport Canada and the National Airlines Council of Canada. This task force is dedicated to overseeing and ensuring the implementation of the action plan and is comprised of representatives across all levels of government, academia, industry associations, and non-governmental organizations.

We also announced Canada’s first proposed drone safety regulations for beyond visual line-of-sight operations, along with new measures to support commercial space launches in Canada. Through the Safer Skies Initiative, we continue to work with our partners across the globe to improve the safety and security of commercial airlines travelling in, or near conflict zones. And this year we co-hosted the third annual Safer Skies Forum with the Netherlands.

In the marine sector, Transport Canada continued to improve our already world-leading marine safety system. We announced the Green Shipping Corridor Program, which will help accelerate the move to zero- and near-zero emission fuels and technologies. At COP28, we signed an MOU to pursue a green shipping corridor between Canada’s West Coast and ports in the United Arab Emirates, Korea, and Japan.

Through Canada’s Oceans Protection Plan, we made several investments to help make marine shipping safer, further protect marine ecosystems, and improve how we prevent and respond to marine accidents. We announced funding for the Ballast Water Innovation Program to further reduce the spread of aquatic invasive species in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River region. We also funded projects to remove abandoned and wrecked boats in local communities across the country. We expanded the Marine Training Program to the Western Arctic Marine Training Centre in Hay River, NWT, which will continue to help attract, train, and employ a diverse range of candidates in the marine industry.

We also began work on a new hangar for the National Aerial Surveillance Program in Iqaluit to better support northern operations. Finally, we’ve continued to formally integrate Indigenous knowledge and expertise into the marine safety system, while making progress toward a more modern and streamlined regulatory regime that meets or exceeds international standards.

Additionally, Regulations Amending the Vessel Operation Restriction Regulations (VORR) were published in the Canada Gazette. Consultations were held in the fall on approaches to modernizing the VORR.

In the rail sector, we continue working on the Lac-Mégantic bypass, with the goal of preventing a similar tragedy from ever happening again. That’s why in December, we proposed changes to the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Regulations, which will further reduce the risk of accidents across the country. We also launched a mandatory online database for people and organizations involved with dangerous goods, which will give us more current, accurate, and complete information.

Our work on the high frequency rail file also moved forward, as we seek to give Canadians a world-class passenger rail transportation system between Québec City and Toronto. In February, we launched the Request for Qualifications process and, following that, several groups were invited to continue to the next stage of the procurement process, which is the Request for Proposal phase. These will be evaluated later this year, with the winner should be announced in late autumn.

Meanwhile, the multi-billion-dollar National Trade Corridors Fund continued to fund a wide range of projects aimed at improving the strength, efficiency, and resiliency of our supply chains. By making it easier to get raw materials and consumer goods where they need to be, and when, the fund continues to invest in the critical transportation assets that support improvements to Canada’s roads, rail, air, and marine shipping routes has advanced critical infrastructure along roads, as well as at ports, railyards, and other transportation hubs from coast to coast to coast. We also launched the National Supply Chain Office in December, meeting a key recommendation of the 2022 report by the Supply Chain Task Force.

Finally, given the ongoing transition away from internal combustion engines and toward zero-emission vehicles, or ZEVs, Transport Canada continued our work reducing barriers to entry, building a comprehensive network of charging stations, and supporting the manufacturing of ZEVs and advanced batteries. We’re also offering purchase incentives to help lower the price of ZEVs, and an accelerated tax write-off for businesses. In an additional green move, we announced a binational alternative fuels corridor in May of 2023 between Canada and the United States.

That’s a lot of projects completed and underway. For myself, and the excellent people of this department, these steps are only the beginning. Over the coming months we plan to do even more – because there’s always room for improvement, and our ambition is to make Canada’s transportation network as strong, efficient, and resilient as it can possibly be. Canadians deserve no less.

Sincerely,

The Honourable Pablo Rodriguez

Minister of Transport

In 2023, Canada’s transportation sector showcased its vital economic role. Despite domestic and international challenges, the sector moved around $1.54 trillion worth of international merchandise trade —an increase of 1.3% from 2022.

Geopolitical tensions, armed conflicts, labour disputes, and climate-related disruptions placed the resiliency of Canada’s supply chain on full display in 2023. These external pressures, coupled with relatively high inflation and interest rates, led to marked fluctuations in freight volumes at Canada’s ports. Containerized freight volumes (largely imported manufactured goods) declined 14.5%, whereas non-containerized freight volumes (largely exported bulk commodities) increased 8.1%. These forces were particularly impactful at the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert, which faced a longshoremen strike and an especially severe wildfire season.

Rail and road networks performed very well amid a challenging operating environment. Rail companies reported a 5.3% increase in transported volumes of bulk commodities like grain and coal. Road transportation also showed resilience, with truck border crossings noting a 1.3% increase compared to the previous year, indicating fluid movement across our land borders – critical for trade with our largest trade partner, the United States.

The passenger air sector continued its post-pandemic recovery trajectory, nearly reaching pre-pandemic demand. Major Canadian airlines carried over 7 million passengers in July, up 13% year-over-year. Air departures in the last quarter approached 98.6% of 2019 levels, reflecting the continued return of international travel.

Canada continues to have one of the safest and most secure transportation systems in the world. Road casualty collisions decreased steadily over the last 10 years, while the number of vehicles on the road increased. In the air sector, 136 accidents involving registered aircraft were recorded – 13% lower than the 5-year average of 157. The rail sector continued its downward trend in the number of accidents, recording 913 accidents in 2023, also 13% below its 5-year average of 1,045.

Canada's transportation sector has also shown notable progress in reducing its environmental impact. In 2021 (the most recent year of complete data), emissions decreased by 11.8% from 2019 levels due to reduced activity resulting from pandemic-related travel restrictions. Within this broader context, the road transportation sector specifically accounted for 118 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), making up 79% of the sector’s emissions and 18% of all national emissions.

In summary, the 2023 performance of Canada’s transportation sector showed:

• incremental improvements in some modes, like air,
• adaptability in others, like rail and road, and
• overall resilience in the face of labour and climate-related disruptions

The sector maintained its role as a vital part of supporting economic resilience and keeping Canadians safe, all while reducing overall environmental impacts.

Looking forward, as the fastest-growing commodities are largely oriented towards overseas trade, growth in transportation demand is expected to concentrate on rail and road corridors connecting to major ports in the coming years.

Transportation is a major contributor to the Canadian economy and plays an important role in the wellness of Canadians. It also supports many industries, including the manufacturing and tourism sectors.

Transportation not only moves finished Canadian goods to domestic and international markets. It also moves materials and goods that Canadian businesses need to operate. Transportation connects people within and between different communities, major urban centres, provinces, territories, and countries.

Canada’s vast and sparsely populated territory, and extreme weather conditions, can make it challenging to ensure the safe, secure, and efficient movement of goods and passengers in Canada. 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 this annual report.

The Canada Transportation Act of 2007, Subsection 52, requires the Minister of Transport to table this report every year, in both the House of Commons and the Senate. This report provides an overview of transportation in Canada based on the latest information for all modes of transportation (at the time of writing).

This report highlights the role that transportation plays in the economy and summarizes our transportation networks’ infrastructure. It describes major developments in the transportation sector during 2023, from efficiency, safety and security, and environmental perspectives.

The report also assesses the Canadian transportation system’s performance in 2023 by looking at the system’s use and capacity. It ends by looking at upcoming trends in the transportation sector.

In addition to this report, transportation statistics have been produced and are available digitally or to download by contacting the Canadian Centre on Transportation Data (CCTD) or visiting the Transportation Data and Information Hub (TDIH). This data includes information on freight and passenger traffic for each mode, infrastructure and labour statistics, price and productivity indicators, freight trade data by mode and country, reported accidents, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Beyond the report’s addendum tables, the hub is an authoritative source for a wide range of Canadian transportation-related data and resources. It offers users access to an extensive collection of transportation statistics and products from Transport Canada, Statistics Canada, and other key partners.

Check back regularly for timely content updates, and new features, like interactive maps and dynamic dashboards.