Dear Member,
We have had a preliminary look at the 2023 federal budget unveiled earlier this afternoon, and note the following highlights from a transportation and infrastructure perspective:
- Allocation of $27.2 million over five years for Transport Canada to establish a Transportation Supply Chain Office to work with industry and other government departments to respond to disruptions and better coordinate action to increase capacity, efficiency and reliability;
- Allocation of $25 million over five years for Transport Canada to work with Statistics Canada to develop transportation supply chain data that will help reduce congestion, increase efficiency and inform future infrastructure planning;
- Introduction of amendments to the Canada Transportation Act to provide the Minister of Transport with the authority to compel data sharing by shippers accessing federally regulated transportation services;
- Introduction of amendments to the Canada Transportation Act for a temporary extension, on a pilot basis, of the interswitching limit in the prairie provinces to strengthen rail competition;
- Launch of a review of the Shipping Conferences Exemption Act to improve marine shipping competition.
The budget document frames these measures as precursors to Canada’s National Supply Chain Strategy, which will be released in the coming months and will be informed by the recommendations of the National Suipply Chain Task Force Report.
As noted above, this is a preliminary overview only, and we will be provided additional information and commentary about the budget in the coming days. In the meantime, the full text of the budget document can be found HERE (please see section 3.4, entitled Reliable Transportation and Resilient Infrastructure, in particular).
Sincerely,
Karen Kancens
Vice President