I'll begin by making a few opening remarks. In the time remaining, we all would be pleased to answer any questions you may have. I should note as well that we have provided four background documents, as per your request, to support your study.
Minister Garneau's transportation 2030 vision is a good starting point for our discussion. With transportation 2030, the minister is delivering on his commitment to create a safe, secure, green, innovative and integrated transportation system that supports trade and economic growth, a cleaner environment and the well-being of Canadians and their families. Transportation 2030 sets out the government's strategic plan for the future of transportation in Canada and is a reflection of what we heard directly from Canadians during extensive cross-Canada consultations.
In moving forward with this strategic plan, we are seeking to identify opportunities to enhance the traveller experience; remain vigilant to our fundamental responsibility to ensure a safe and secure transportation system; use innovative technologies to reduce the system's environmental impacts and build the transportation system of the future; protect our waterways, coasts and northern areas and build our reputation as a world-leading maritime and Arctic nation; and ensure that the transportation system enables Canada's trade and economic objectives. You'll note in the background information circulated that these goals align with the five core themes of transportation 2030.
The government is taking action on a number of fronts to help bring the transportation 2030 vision to fruition. For example, in May 2018, the Transportation Modernization Act—formerly Bill C-49—was approved by Parliament, and the implementation of initiatives like the oceans protection plan and the port modernization review continues. Together, these and related initiatives aim to address the needs for the future of transportation in Canada. In the context of our appearance before you today, we know that these needs include cost-effective, reliable and timely transportation access to global markets so as to enhance our trade competitiveness and ultimately grow Canada's economy.
Making strategic and cost-shared investments in trade-related transportation infrastructure has been central in our efforts to achieve this goal over the last 10 years. A key distinction of Canada's approach, which has since been emulated by other countries, is that it is multimodal and based on systems rather than on the performance or capacity of individual modes of transportation separately.
This approach mirrors the way in which businesses approach the physical movement of imports and exports from their starting points to their ultimate destinations. It also recognizes that changes or improvements at one point within our integrated transportation network can have far-reaching impacts on the performance and capacity of the system overall.
Being strategic, we aim to align our investments to improve access to priority and high-growth markets. The background information concerning the Asia-Pacific gateway and corridor transportation infrastructure fund highlights some of the progress we have achieved in western Canada over the last decade. The update on the trade and transportation corridors initiative, or the TTCI, outlines how we are building on our best practices and lessons learned over the past decade to address the needs for the future of the trade-related transportation system in Canada.
Rather than repeat all the details included in the TTCI reference document that we prepared, it may be more useful to briefly provide you with a sense of where we are today. In the context of the national trade corridors fund, which is the core of the trade and transportation corridors initiative, Minister Garneau and the Government of Canada have so far announced federal investments of nearly $760 million in trade and transportation infrastructure projects across the country. These are cost-shared with other levels of government and the private sector.
The reference document provides examples of projects that support import and export flows with established and high-growth markets, recognize the need to strengthen the climate resilience of transportation infrastructure and support the unique transportation needs of Canada's territories, support safety and improved traffic flow for both cargo and residents—particularly around Canada's largest ports—and are based on collaboration with and among infrastructure owners, authorities and other levels of government to help maximize the scale, scope and impact of our investments.
While collaboration with stakeholders provides valuable insight into where public and private infrastructure needs or bottlenecks exist, Transport Canada has also invested significantly to establish an objective evidence base to help inform and quantify trade-related transportation infrastructure issues. This past year, the department, in collaboration with Statistics Canada, established the Canadian centre on transportation data, an open portal for multimodal transportation data and performance measures. The trade and transportation corridors initiative background document provides more details on future plans in this area.
Innovation and new technologies will continue to shape transportation infrastructure needs and uses. Within the context of the TTCI, Transport Canada is undertaking targeted actions in the areas of connected and automated vehicles, and unmanned aerial vehicles or remotely piloted aircraft systems. A central goal of this work is to ensure their safe deployment and use. In the context of transportation infrastructure, for example, future uses could include long-range infrastructure inspections and, over the long term, perhaps even carrying cargo and passengers. From a road transportation perspective, the uses of connected and automated vehicles are both promising and likely disruptive.
I will conclude my remarks at this point. We would be pleased to respond to any questions you may have, and we look forward to a more interactive discussion.
Thank you.
