Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and honourable members.
My name is Duncan Wilson. I'm vice president, corporate social responsibility with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority. Please note that we previously provided a comprehensive submission to the pre-budget consultation. Today I will discuss a few of the highlights included in that submission.
The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is responsible for the stewardship of the Port of Vancouver, Canada's largest port. Our mandate, as set out by the Canada Marine Act, is to ensure that port infrastructure is in place to meet Canada's trade objectives, protect the environment and consider the impact of port activity on local communities.
The Port of Vancouver and the Port of Prince Rupert are Canada's gateway to Asia. Trade with Asia is expected to grow dramatically as the economies of China and India in particular continue to expand. At present, about $1 of every $3—so 30% of all of Canada's trade and goods outside of North America—goes to the Port of Vancouver.
Our challenge as a port authority is how to grow Canada's trade in a way that is environmentally sustainable and that also takes into consideration the impacts of growing trade on local communities. A lot has already been done to improve the port's surrounding infrastructure and to increase capacity; however, there's a lot more work to do, especially given new trade agreements with Asia, if Canada is to realize the economic benefits to increasing global trade.
In response to the question of what steps the federal government can take to support and encourage Canadians and their businesses to grow the economy in the face of a challenging economic landscape, I'd like to share the following recommendations.
On access to capital, if port authorities compete in the market for land and project funding, it is critical that we have access to capital in a timely manner when needed or risk effects to Canada's competitiveness. A great example of that is trying to purchase land in the Lower Mainland with rising industrial land prices—rising land prices overall.
Therefore, we recommend that government allow access to capital through timely borrowing limit adjustments, or an alternative approach to borrowing limits such as creating a borrowing limit that's based on a multiple of EBITDA to facilitate borrowing for core port infrastructure and growth.
For long-term government leadership on strategic infrastructure spending, we commend the government for its commitment to national infrastructure spending through the national trade corridors fund.
For the second phase of funding, we want to ensure that trade enabling continues to be at the forefront of investment. Therefore, we recommend increasing funding for the national trade corridors fund, and focusing this funding on trade-enabling infrastructure projects with national economic importance and significant long-term impacts.
Tremendous potential exists to improve Canada's competitiveness through the strategic sharing of data amongst supply chain participants to optimize the supply chain. To capitalize on this, we recommend regulation to support data sharing, through optimized supply chain performance and dedicated funding to support resources for data collection such as the Canadian Transportation Agency.
With regard to the protection of marine mammals, much of the commercial vessel activity within the southern coast of B.C. transits through critical habitat for southern resident killer whales. We are committed to conducting operations in a responsible and sustainable manner within the port's jurisdiction.
We also want to take a leadership role in addressing the impact of marine shipping even outside of our jurisdiction. That's why we launched the port authority-led enhancing cetacean habitat and observation program, ECHO, in 2014, with support from Transport Canada among others, for which the port authority is very grateful.
We envision that we will continue to lead this program over the next five years, and would like to recommend that the government continue its support in the order of a minimum contribution of $1 million per year over the next five years.
We recommend the creation of a clean transportation innovation fund. We support the government's commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and we understand that the transportation and shipping sectors are major contributors to greenhouse gases. Therefore, we recommend a clean transportation innovation fund to support the transition to low- and even no-emission transportation alternatives wherever possible.
In conclusion, the Port of Vancouver continues to be recognized as a world-class gateway because of the leadership of the federal government in implementing strategic nation-building infrastructure improvements that have allowed the gateway to facilitate tremendous trade and growth.
Ensuring the sustainability of Canada's major trade and transportation corridors and overall goods movement through strategic infrastructure and innovation is vital to maintaining and enhancing the competitiveness of the gateway and the Canadian economy.
Implementing these recommendations will stimulate employment through infrastructure construction and strengthen the transportation backbone of Canada's trade, benefiting all Canadian businesses reliant on transportation infrastructure for exports, imports and the efficient movement of goods. In doing so, the federal government will be able to support and encourage Canadians and their businesses to grow the economy in the face of a changing economic landscape.
Thank you.