Good afternoon.
I am pleased to appear before the committee on behalf of Transport Canada in my capacity as head of the national supply chain office.
I am joined by my colleagues Colin Stacey, who is also with the office, and Christian Dea, chief economist and director general of transportation economic analysis.
I would like to begin by acknowledging that I am speaking with you today from the traditional unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations.
As technology and transportation systems advance and the world economy becomes more connected and integrated, Canadian businesses are adapting to take advantage of the global factory and marketplace. They are also major suppliers of a number of goods the world depends on, from agriculture and agri-food to fertilizer and critical minerals.
As you can appreciate, Canadian producers can’t access global opportunities without transportation and logistics operators moving the goods each step of the way. Keeping the transportation supply chain flowing smoothly and efficiently isn't just essential for Canadian goods to reach international markets. It also keeps manufacturing costs down, which allows Canadian companies to price more competitively. For Canadian families, more efficient supply chains translate to more affordable goods that they use in their daily lives.
Although Canada’s supply chains work well most of the time, we have not seen significant improvements in productivity within the network in recent years, despite growing demands for access to the global marketplace.
We have also seen in recent years how vulnerable our transportation system can be to disruptions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and geopolitical conflicts. Given that future disruptions and trends are hard to predict, government leadership is needed to bring parties together to build the resiliency of our systems while also working towards more efficient and globally connected supply chains.
As a result, our former minister of transport appointed a national supply chain task force in 2022, charged with consulting broadly to gain industry perspectives on ways to improve Canada’s supply chains.
The final recommendations of the task force and Budget 2023 laid the groundwork to establish a national supply chain office.
Minister Rodriguez officially launched the office on December 1, 2023, with the foremost goal of increasing the fluidity, efficiency, resilience and reliability of Canada's supply chains through collaboration with industry, labour, other orders of government and other partners.
The work of the office will build upon the government’s recent investments in the trade and transportation systems, through the national trade corridor fund, and our ongoing effort to reform key legislation underpinning the network, such as through Bill C-33, which seeks to strengthen the port system and railway safety in Canada.
Over time, the work of this office will contribute to advancing other government priorities, including improving the affordability of goods for Canadians, more competitively priced export goods in foreign markets, and greening transport systems.
As we advance the work of the office, our key priorities are providing overarching leadership, coordination and external outreach to examine, and respond to, specific domestic and international supply chain issues, including during disruptions; supporting data sharing and digitalization as part of work to optimize systems and ensure smarter decisions; and developing and implementing a national strategy to drive collaboration across sectors on shared priorities.
Canada's supply chains are intricate and ever-changing. The office is working to understand the logistical and analytical needs of Canada's transportation sector operators and stakeholders, both geographically and for specific value chains. This includes talking directly to those in the know. Through external outreach, we will strengthen our understanding of what capacity is needed to support major projects, where system bottlenecks are, and what sorts of implications regulatory or legislative changes could have on operations.
Our engagement with the private sector will ensure that the government understands the industry perspective. To that end, we are also bringing industry expertise on board within the office.
Given Canada’s position as a trading nation, we fully appreciate the importance of healthy supply chains to the country’s economy and Canadian companies’ success in international markets. While this work will take time, we will take action on the domestic front to ensure that Canadian firms are well placed to connect with global opportunities.
I will conclude my opening remarks here. I'll of course be happy to entertain any questions.
Merci.