As Canada continues to move through the COVID-19 pandemic and into economic recovery, weather events and changes to consumer behaviours have amplified existing constraints affecting the resiliency of Canada's supply chain.
Today, the Minister of Transport, the Honourable Omar Alghabra, announced that the Government of Canada is launching a new call for proposals under the National Trade Corridors Fund, with a focus on increasing the fluidity of Canada's supply chains. The announcement was made during the Minister's participation at the Western Transportation Advisory Council (WESTAC) Forum in Vancouver. The bi-annual forum provides an opportunity for transportation leaders to discuss the supply chain and transportation sector challenges in Western Canada.
This new call builds on the 2021 Budget in which the Government of Canada provided additional funding of $1.9 billion over four years for this Fund.
Under the new call, Transport Canada advances funding under two investment themes:
- Strengthening Canada's connections to global markets will target projects that support fluid and reliable trade flows between Canada and global markets, including the United States and Mexico. This theme considers projects that enable an increase in, or generation of new exports, and that improve the transportation system's efficiency and reliability for Canadian supply chains.
- Building internal trade corridors will target projects that support the resiliency of Canadian goods trade and supply chains by alleviating capacity constraints and bottlenecks along regional and inter-provincial trade corridors. Other objectives include strengthening modal interconnectivity and operability, and improve producers' access to markets, industrial centres and/or multimodal hubs and gateways.
The new call accepts expressions of interest starting today until March 31, 2022. Successful applicants will be invited to submit a comprehensive project proposal by June 30, 2022.
Quotes
"The new National Trade Corridors Fund call for proposals supports projects that will build a strong supply chain capacity, address current infrastructure and bottleneck issues and stimulate the Canadian economy in this post-COVID-19 pandemic."
The Honourable Omar Alghabra
Minister of Transport
Quick facts
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Since the creation of the National Trade Corridors Fund, the Government of Canada has announced 98 projects and committed more than $2.1 billion to marine, air, rail, and road projects. Nineteen of these projects are located in or targeted to the Territorial North.
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Applicants who wish to explore funding opportunities for their initiatives are encouraged to consult the Increasing the fluidity of Canada's supply chain webpage, which provides guidance on the process.
