Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, honourable members.
My name is Marc Brazeau, and I am the president and CEO of the Railway Association of Canada.
The Railway Association of Canada represents nearly 60 freight and passenger railways that transport tens of millions of people and approximately $320 billion worth of goods across the country every year.
Furthermore, the rail industry is a major driver of the Canadian economy. Our members employ more than 33,000 Canadians in rail operations, technology, safety, security and management. Rail workers move almost 70% of the goods shipped by land and half of Canada's exports every year, allowing us to remain competitive in the global marketplace.
The number one priority for Canada's railway industry is safety. Over the past 10 years, rail operators have invested more than $20 billion to ensure the safety and efficiency of their Canadian networks, and they remain fully committed to fostering a robust safety culture.
In addition to being reliably safe, rail is also a very efficient and green form of transportation for Canada. Thanks to their substantial and continuous investments in innovation and technology, Canada's railways are more than just economic engines—they are environmental stewards.
Railways are among the lowest greenhouse gas emitters in Canada's transportation sector. In 2020, rail accounted for just 3.8% of total transportation GHG emissions. Given the environmental benefits of rail, as well as the railway industry's robust safety record, the need for strategic federal infrastructure investments has never been clearer.
The RAC and its members share the belief that growth drives investment. Every year, the Canadian rail industry invests between 20% and 25% of its own revenues back into maintaining and enhancing its 43,000-kilometre network, which is in fact 12% larger than our 38,000-kilometre national highway system.
Rail is one of Canada's most capital-intensive, vertically integrated industries, owning the rolling stock, equipment, real estate, track and infrastructure on which they operate. Again, in the last decade alone, members have invested more than $20 billion into the Canadian networks to improve the safety, the resiliency and the network fluidity, competing directly with a trucking sector that operates on public infrastructure.
A competitive business environment is critical to ensure that the rail sector can continue investing in its network and move more goods and more people in the safest and most cost-effective and environmentally sustainable way. Operating safely and creating safe working conditions can sometimes be challenged by extreme weather events, such as intense heat, frigid cold, wildfires, floods, storms and severe winds, to name just a few.
While Canada's railway companies have solid plans to deal with extreme weather conditions and help mitigate associated risks, the negative impact of climate change on critical transportation and communications infrastructure cannot be overstated.
When facing the consequences of catastrophic weather events, railway owners and operators are primarily responsible for protecting their assets and networks.
For some years now, the resilience of railways has been tested as never before, and this is largely due to the impact of climate change.
Last fall, for instance, rail resiliency shone through in the response to catastrophic flooding in B.C.'s Lower Mainland and interior. RAC members pulled off engineering miracles to get lines shored up, debris cleared, tracks replaced and trains running again all while facing incredible challenges and all within a matter of days.
Improving our country's trade reputation, growing our economy, protecting our national security interests cannot happen without substantial and sustained federal recapitalization of national trade gateways strategy and funding programs. This includes the creation of a federal capital funding program designed specifically to support short-line infrastructure investment similar to programs that exist in the province of Quebec as well as in the U.S.
Simply put, Canada requires a long-term plan for overcoming reliability issues in supply chains and trade corridors, along with proportional investments in infrastructure. This includes enhancing existing trade gateways and corridors, plus the long-term build-out of new marine and inland ports as well as road, rail and air transportation assets that would support the freight and passenger flows required for international trade.
Thank you, honourable members. I look forward to your questions.
Thank you.