Madam Chair, good morning, and thank you very much.
This morning I'm joined by two of my colleagues, first of all Janet Drysdale, who's vice-president of corporate development and sustainability at CN; and also, Mike Farkouh, who is vice-president of operations, Eastern Canada. I'm the chief legal officer and executive vice-president of corporate services at CN.
We appreciate very much the opportunity to meet with you today to discuss Bill C-49, which has significant implications for the rail sector in Canada. CN participated very actively in the statutory review of the Canada Transportation Act by the Honourable David Emerson. We believe the panel did a good job in the review of the act, identifying the sorts of policy changes that are necessary to enable Canada to meet its goals for growing trade in the coming decades. Mr. Emerson and his colleagues commissioned a number of useful studies. With regard to rail we recognize that, unlike some past reviews, the panel based their recommendation on evidence and data and less on anecdotes. The panel also accepted the clear evidence that deregulation of the rail sector supported innovation, which derived benefits to shippers, customers and the Canadian economy. We are somewhat disappointed that not more of the panel's recommendations are included in Bill C-49.
After the report of the review panel was published, we participated in the consultation process undertaken by Minister Garneau, specifically in a number of roundtables held across the country.
We have also been encouraged by the work of the government's advisory council on economic growth chaired by Dominic Barton. We are particularly pleased with their first report's focus on the importance of growing trade and the need to strengthen and grow our infrastructure in order to achieve this. The council also stressed the importance of having a regulatory system that encourages investment in infrastructure and enables the transportation sector to attract the capital needed to invest in growing capacity.
I am sure that you are familiar with CN, but I would like to remind you of some important aspects.
CN operates its own 19,600-mile network, serving three coasts, the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the port of Trois-Rivières. In Canada, our network extends over 13,500 miles, linking all main centres and access points. This makes CN a strategic partner in Canada's logistics chain.
We have an extremely diversified commercial portfolio. Our biggest sector is intermodal transportation, or import and export container traffic. Container transportation is the fastest growing and most competitive sector in the rail industry.
More broadly, I think it's imperative for the committee to know that deregulation and market-driven forces over the last 20 years have been the key underpinnings enabling investment and innovation in Canada's rail sector. According to the OECD, Canadian shippers today benefit from rail rates that are the lowest in the industrialized world, lower even than in the United States. In addressing Bill C-49, we acknowledge the minister's attempt to design a package that addresses the interests of both railways and shippers; however, we are concerned with the failure to recognize the degree to which deregulation has led to an environment of both lower prices and more reliable services for shippers and the degree to which deregulation has enabled railways to invest heavily in maintaining and growing our network. CN's capital investment over the last 10 years has totalled approximately $20 billion.
I'd like to turn the microphone over to my colleague, Janet Drysdale.