Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, I am Joan Hardy, vice-president of sales and marketing, grain and fertilizers at Canadian Pacific. I appreciate the opportunity to share CP's perspective.
The first point I would make is that there is no one single supply chain in Canada. Each commodity has its own unique, interdependent and complex supply chain that links the producer with the final end-user. In the grain context, this includes every distinct element in the chain that connects the farmer to the grain company to the railway to the port terminal for export. Each of our customers has a unique supply chain, and CP is just one element in the overall system.
CP is undertaking historic levels of capital investment to improve safety, increase capacity and enhance the resiliency of our rail network. Safety is foundational to everything we do at CP. We have led the industry with the lowest train accident frequency in North America for the past 16 consecutive years. Over the past decade, CP has invested more than $14.3 billion in our infrastructure, technology and rolling stock. This includes our $500-million investment in new high-capacity grain hopper cars.
Our capital program complements investments made by our customers and governments, including projects funded through the national trade corridors fund. CP supports federal investments in projects that improve supply chain efficiency and resiliency. We applaud the government for committing an additional $450 million to the NTCF in the recent budget. Unfortunately, it often takes years for projects to get approval under the NTCF. We encourage Transport Canada to move with more urgency to commit funding for projects that can provide immediate tangible improvements for Canada’s supply chains.
Measuring the strength of Canada’s supply chains is fundamentally a question of resiliency. To what extent can our supply chains endure extreme events or disruptions? Over the past year, CP’s resiliency was tested several times. In B.C. alone, we had to overcome extreme wildfires, flooding and catastrophic infrastructure damage, all while managing high COVID absenteeism.
The tragedies of last year’s wildfire season in B.C. are well known. CP went to extraordinary efforts to maintain safe operations through the B.C. interior during this time. We marshalled significant resources to protect our infrastructure and keep trains running. This included constructing four fire suppression trains and bringing in industrial firefighters from as far away as Texas.
Then in late November, an extraordinary atmospheric river slammed into B.C., causing catastrophic flooding along the Thompson and Fraser River canyons. The historic rains caused 32 separate track washouts on our main line and a eight-day service outage on the most critical part of our network that connects North America with the Port of Vancouver. CN was down for over two weeks during this period, which amplified the devastating impact to the rail supply chains servicing the port.
We worked closely with federal, provincial, local authorities and indigenous communities to restore service and deliver essential goods, such as water, food and medicines, to impacted communities in proximity to our network. Following the restoration of service, we took a balanced approach to the restart for all commodities, which allowed the rail system to recover in a few weeks.
Supply chain resiliency also requires the railway to be nimble to respond to shifting market dynamics and customer demand. A powerful example is CP’s response this winter to surging demand for the transportation of U.S. corn and grain into the Canadian Prairies for cattle feed. CP responded to the unanticipated and unprecedented demand by working with our customers to create a whole new supply chain for the delivery of cattle feed into Canada, shipping over 26,000 cars of feed to date, more than 20 times the prior year's volume.
Recovering from natural disasters and moving swiftly in concert with our customers are examples of how CP has demonstrated its remarkable resiliency over the past year. CP and our railroaders have overcome incredible obstacles to keep the rail system functioning in the service of our customers and the broader Canadian economy, and we are not just sitting idly by and waiting for the next disruption.
We are continuously identifying locations on our network where infrastructure improvements can strengthen that resiliency.
In B.C., we are improving our storm runoff infrastructure by reinforcing and re-establishing slopes, installing new culverts, and constructing new rock and debris fences. We are also investing in track and signalling at Cisco Bridge to enhance connectivity with the CN, which will improve our ability to keep trains running if there is an outage in the directional running zone between Hope and Kamloops.
In 2023, we plan to construct three new bridges to improve resiliency on our B.C. network. We will also be working with Transport Canada to advance projects under the NTCF that can strengthen the resiliency of Canada’s supply chains.
I would be pleased to answer any questions.
Thank you.