The Government of Canada announces intent to launch a new digital infrastructure initiative to strengthen Canada's supply chains

VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 14, 2022 /CNW/ - Canada's economic growth depends on strong supply chains to create jobs, ensure goods get to Canadians, and addressing the impact of the rising cost of living. Digitizing our supply chain is one way to make it more efficient while helping to grow our economy.

Today, the Minister of Transport, the Honourable Omar Alghabra, announced the intention to launch the $136 million Advancing Industry-Driven Digitalization of Canada's Supply Chain initiative. Funding for this initiative is made possible through Budget 2022, to develop digital solutions and optimize Canada's supply chains.

This initiative, which would form a key part of Canada's National Supply Chain Strategy, would improve the efficiency and resiliency of Canada's supply chain by:

• Making it easier to plan and coordinate transportation activities to alleviate bottlenecks, reduce congestion and be more resilient to disruptions by collecting and sharing data and analytics in real time;
• Supporting industry-driven approaches to digital solutions, especially in the areas of data collection, coordination, and improving the visibility of the transportation network for carriers, shippers and governments;
• Supporting evidence-based decision-making to further optimize existing networks and better plan infrastructure investments; and
• Working with industry to optimize trade corridors and gateways across Canada, such as the Pacific Gateway and the Windsor-Quebec trade corridor.

The Minister also announced that Transport Canada will soon launch a new Call for Proposals under the National Trade Corridors Fund to support projects that strengthen Canada's digital infrastructure to enhance the efficiency and reliability of our transportation supply chains.

Altogether, these investments will help establish a strong foundation on which to advance the National Supply Chain Task Force recommendations to digitalize and create end-to-end supply chain visibility in our supply chain network.

Because of the importance and urgency of making our largest Pacific Gateway more efficient, Transport Canada is also convening supply chain leaders from the railways, shippers, shipping industry, labour, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and the technology sector, to develop and implement digital solutions that will make this gateway operate more efficiently. The Government of Canada will continue to collaborate with supply partners to ensure essential transportation networks and supply chains remain competitive and make Canada a trade partner of choice.

By improving the digitalization of our supply chains, the Government of Canada is ensuring that those who export products from Canada can do so more efficiently and reliably. This helps middle class Canadians by providing jobs and making life more affordable.

Quotes:

"Supply chain resiliency, efficiency, and reliability is a priority for our Government. That's why today's announcement is so important to ensure that essential goods and critical supplies are accessible to Canadians. We will enable our supply chains to have the digital infrastructure needed to continue to be more efficient and resilient for years to come, which are vital to growing a strong economy."

The Honourable Omar Alghabra
Minister of Transport

Quick Facts:

• In 2021, international merchandise trade equaled around $1.24 trillion, a 16.8% increase from 2020 and the highest annual value of total trade on record.
• Budget 2022 announced a commitment of $603.2 million over the next five years to help ensure that Canada's supply chains can fulfil the needs of our economy and endure disruptions caused by climate change and global events.
• The Government of Canada has established an online portal for suggestions on how it can improve its supply chain performance.
• On January 31, 2022, the Minister of Transport hosted a National Supply Chain Summit. The Summit brought together federal ministers, businesses, industry leaders, and associations, to discuss the challenges facing our supply chain.
• The Minister of Transport announced during the National Supply Chain Summit the creation of a Supply Chain Task Force.
• On October 6, 2022, the Task Force provided its final report to the Minister of Transport. The report contains recommendations on measures that could be considered by government to mitigate both the acute short-term challenges and chronic longer-term strategic issues confronting Canada's supply chain.
• An efficient and reliable transportation network is key to Canada's economic growth. The Government of Canada, through the National Trade Corridors Fund (NTCF) and the Advancing Industry-Driven Digitalization of Canada's Supply Chain initiative, is making investments that will support the flow of goods across Canada's supply chains.

Associated Links

• National Trade Corridors Fund
• Trade and Transportation Corridors Initiative
• Budget 2022
• News Release: Governments of Canada and British Columbia announce joint supply chain recovery working group
• Supply Chain Task Force
• January 2022 National Supply Chain Summit: What we heard report
• Task Force report

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SOURCE Transport Canada

Contacts: Nadine Ramadan, Press Secretary and Communications Advisor, Office of the Honourable Omar Alghabra, Minister of Transport, [email protected]; Media Relations, Transport Canada, Ottawa, 613-993-0055, [email protected]