Raison d’être, Mandate and Role: Who we are and what we do

Raison d’être

A safe and secure transportation system provides Canada with reliable and efficient movement of goods and people across the country and around the world. In an environmentally responsible way, it meets the challenges posed by topography and geography, linking communities and reducing the effects of the distance that separates people. These vital roles reflect transportation’s interdependent relationship with all sectors of the economy and society.

Transport Canada’s vision of a sustainable transportation system integrates social, economic and environmental objectives. Our vision’s three guiding principles are to work towards:

• The highest possible safety and security of life and property, supported by performance-based standards and regulations;
• The efficient movement of people and goods to support economic prosperity and a sustainable quality of life, based on competitive markets and targeted use of regulation and government funding; and
• Respect of the environmental legacy of future generations of Canadians, guided by environmental assessment and planning processes in transportation decisions and selective use of regulation and government funding.

Mandate and role

Transport Canada^Footnote is responsible for the Government of Canada’s transportation policies and programs. Our department develops legislative and regulatory frameworks, and conducts transportation oversight through legislative, regulatory, surveillance and enforcement activities. While not directly responsible for all aspects or modes of transportation, we play a leadership role to ensure that all parts of the transportation system across Canada work together effectively.

Transport Canada has sole responsibility for matters such as aviation safety and security. For other matters, we share responsibility with other government departments, and provincial, territorial and municipal governments. We also work with trading partners and international organizations to develop and harmonize policy and regulatory frameworks, to protect Canadian users of our increasingly global transportation system, while encouraging efficiency.

In areas for which Transport Canada does not have direct responsibility—for example, for building and maintaining road networks—we use strategic funding and partnerships to promote the safe, efficient and environmentally responsible movement of people and goods into and across the country. In this way, we play a leadership role to ensure that all parts of the transportation system across Canada and worldwide work together, effectively and efficiently.

For more general information about us, see the “Supplementary Information” section of this report. For more information on our organizational mandate letter commitments, see the Minister’s mandate letter on the Prime Minister of Canada’s website^Footnote .

Strategic Outcomes and Program Alignment Architecture (PAA)

Transport Canada’s Program Alignment Architecture includes 15 Programs that contribute to achieving the following three Departmental Strategic Outcomes:

1. An efficient transportation system;
2. A clean transportation system; and
3. A safe and secure transportation system.

The 16^th Program, Internal Services, supports all three strategic outcomes.