Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, honourable members, for the chance to appear before you today.
The question before this committee is a significant one. When the value of two-thirds of Canada’s GDP is based on trade activity, how we manufacture and move goods across the country, how we prioritize and protect our critical trade infrastructure and the markets we choose to focus on—whether next door in the U.S. or as far away as the Indo-Pacific—have outsized impacts on the health of our economy, opportunities for our businesses and the quality of life of everyone in the country.
While our supply chains have largely recovered from the worst of the pandemic’s disruptions, many of our members continue to face disruption, inconsistent supply and persistent inflationary pressures. According to the most recent Canadian survey on business conditions, a quarter of businesses still identify supply chain challenges as a key concern and one that over 60% of them expects to persist.
The evolving role of transportation and logistics is critical to Canada’s competitive success, but our supply chains remain only as strong as their weakest link. The challenges and costs presented by climate shocks, such as frequent floods and wildfires, have demonstrated how fragile many of our supply chain systems and structures are. In the context of a highly restive labour environment, key points in our trade corridors have experienced repeated or prolonged strikes, putting further strain on a precarious system and compromising our reputation as a reliable place to do business.
Canadians are frustrated by the affordability crisis. They want to see products move and prices remain stable. This requires business and government sharing the common goal of a functional supply chain and a growing economy.
To do this, we need to see long-term investment in Canada’s trade infrastructure. Businesses need to be able to get their goods to market reliably. We can’t simply look to address the needs of today, but the challenges and opportunities that we see 20 and 30 years from now.