November 14, 2022 | Category: Published Articles

 

(Published by The Hill Times)

A sustainable, long-term transportation plan is essential for a competitive and resilient economy

Such a plan should include a corridor strategy to target infrastructure bottlenecks and improve innovation in the industry.

Canada is a trading nation with an economic foundation based on our natural resources. Over the years, the commodities we trade have changed, but our reliance on our natural resource wealth has remained constant. Our ability to achieve economic success as a trading nation is founded on our ability to move these goods to market in a timely and predictable manner. As our transportation systems have improved, so too has our economic prosperity.

Most Canadians took our transportation systems for granted until they began to falter under the extreme challenges created by the global pandemic. Then they learned how vulnerable our transportation infrastructure is to the changing climate from the disruptions caused by wildfires, drought, and flooding. At last, transportation and supply chains were on everybody’s radar, but not in a good way.

It was enough of a concern that federal Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra appointed an experienced group of individuals as the National Supply Chain Task Force to make short- and long-term recommendations to increase competition, access, reliability, resiliency, redundancy, efficiency and investment in the transportation supply chain. Over their 100-day mandate, the task force consulted with a broad range of stakeholders to gain their perspectives on priority areas. Its most important recommendation was for the government to develop a long-term transportation supply chain strategy, including initiating a review to update and modernize related regulations.

Why is this the most important recommendation? An analysis commissioned by the task force estimated that from 2020 to 2070, investments of $4.4-trillion (or approximately $88-billion per year) will be required in Canadian marine and transportation infrastructure. When would spending $88-billion a year without a plan be a good idea? It reminds me of Winston Churchill’s famous quote: “He who fails to plan is planning to fail.” We should not be planning to fail, especially when making significant capital investments foundational to our economic prosperity.

A sustainable long-term transportation plan is essential for a competitive and resilient economy. The plan should include a corridor strategy to target infrastructure bottlenecks and improve innovation in the industry. Such a plan also needs to look beyond the immediate horizon to ensure we invest in projects and technologies that will help us meet tomorrow’s climate and trade goals.

If we are going to make investments of the size and scale suggested by the task force, we also need to review our regulatory framework in Canada. Our current system is impeding rather than incentivizing infrastructure projects that could increase the capacity and improve the reliability of our transportation system. Governments demonstrated regulatory agility during the pandemic and in their response to extreme weather-related events in southern British Columbia in 2021. This agility needs to be the default. However, protracted approval processes for needed infrastructure projects are delaying the benefits and increasing the risk that we will lose the much-needed capital investment altogether. Regulatory systems that are strong, agile, transparent and predictable confer a competitive advantage. Our regulatory framework in Canada needs to be improved to allow timely decisions on critical infrastructure projects, to support Canada’s reputation as a reliable trading partner, and to ensure our continued economic prosperity.

About the Author

Lindsay Kislock is the President & CEO of WESTAC (Western Transportation Advisory Council).

 

About WESTAC

The Western Transportation Advisory Council (WESTAC) is a council of organizations in the transportation sector represented by senior decision-makers. WESTAC’s members span all aspects of freight transportation in Canada. They include carriers and logistics providers, ports and terminals, shippers, labour unions, and the three levels of government. Members represent a significant share of the western Canadian economy. We focus on critical issues that affect Western Canada’s freight transportation network to ensure that it is safe, efficient, reliable and competitive.

 

The comments here are of the author and do not reflect the opinions of WESTAC members. For media inquiries, contact Marzia Rizvi, WESTAC’s Manager, Program Development and Communications.