Also, the last federal budget was rich in new measures and additional expenses in all areas of activity, so it becomes difficult even to make a full review of all the elements associated with an increase in the arsenal of federal programs.
Posted at 6:30am
Of all the measures announced on Tuesday, one caught my eye even though it had no headline potential.
I’m talking about the establishment of a supply chain office that will report to Transport Canada to better coordinate and strengthen the reliability of Canada’s transportation supply chain. This is an initiative that will cost $27.2 million over five years.
We’re a long way from providing tens of billions here for health, energy transition, or dental care for the less well-off, but Canada’s transportation supply chain needs care, and it needs it badly.
The supply chains have been severely tested over the last three years by the pandemic, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the cooling of our trade relations with China or even extreme weather conditions.
At the end of the pandemic, in March 2022, a working group was formed to give the federal government recommendations for restoring smoother passenger and freight transport in the country.
Co-chaired by Jean Gattuso, ex-CEO of Industries Lassonde, and Louise Yako, ex-president of the Trucking Association of British Columbia, this National Supply Chain Task Force presented its report in the fall and some of its recommendations were adopted for new budget measures on Tuesday.
Specifically, the Supply Chains Office will oversee a joint $25 million five-year program with Statistics Canada to generate data that will enable better planning and day-to-day coordination of the activities of the various actors in the chain (shippers, carriers, logisticians) enable. and infrastructure (ports, airports, railways and highways).
These are the first milestones of Canada’s national supply chain strategy, which will be unveiled in the coming months and will build on the National Task Force’s recommendations.
“We don’t have any data to track between the different federal regulators that oversee transport and goods,” explains Jean Gattuso.
“It is not normal for a container of food to remain parked for a week to be cleared through customs or awaiting passage by a food inspector when it is expected at a processing plant the next day. With data we will be able to create performance indicators. »
A trading economy
The importance of strengthening and modernizing Canada’s supply chain is not difficult to demonstrate. The country’s economy is built on its ability to trade, its future depends on it, as do a multitude of jobs.
In 2021, international trade accounted for 61% of Canada’s gross domestic product, worth a total of US$1,240 billion. Trade between Canada and the United States alone accounted for US$774 billion or 62% of all Canadian trade (US$476 billion exports and US$298 billion imports).
Road transport accounts for 50% of trade in goods imported and exported to Canada, compared to 23% for sea transport, 15% for air transport and 12% for rail transport. These activities accounted for 3.6% of Canada’s GDP in 2021, totaling $72 billion.
There needs to be better communication, better information sharing and better visibility between each of these actors to ensure better cohesion.
Jean Gattuso, co-chair of the National Supply Chain Task Force
If the supply chain seems to be less stressed in recent months, it is mainly due to the economic slowdown. They must be able to handle increased volumes and protect the chain during extreme events like the British Columbia floods, the report said.
There are still several challenges that could hamper the expected smooth movement of goods in Canada, including the shortage of truck drivers, which today stands at more than 25,000 job vacancies across Canadian territory.
In addition to the recurring investments that need to be made in infrastructure such as ports, airports or highways, the task force would like the country to acquire more dry ports, such as the one being built in Contrecœur, which will have greater container capacity and will also act as a logistics center.
Above all, the report states, we must eliminate regulations that impede the efficient operation of the supply chain and unnecessarily multiply controls.
“You have to look at the country’s economy as if it were one big factory, rather than sectoring each of the industries and each of the players in the chain. Everyone has to communicate with each other efficiently and quickly,” says the co-chair of the task force.