Trade, Transportation, and Supply Chains
Canada’s productivity problem is partly a logistics problem. Bottlenecks at seaports and airports, constraints on rail capacity, and inefficiencies in road transport hinder trade flows, diversification, and the movement of people and goods. As Canada seeks to diversify its trade relationships, improving the infrastructure that supports trade is an increasingly important policy priority.
Trade, Transportation and Supply Chains Recommendation Summary
Recommendation
Area of Reform
Level of Government
Source Document
1
Treat rail capacity and labour sequencing as central to port investment
Improve port and rail capacity
Federal
2
Adopt earlier mediation to reduce economy-wide labour disruptions
Improve port and rail capacity
Federal
Provincial
3
Do not bring back the rule that required railways to hand off freight to competitors within 160 kilometres in the Prairies, since it discouraged investment in rail capacity
Improve port and rail capacity
Federal
4
Privatize federal airports with private equity and pension fund participation
Reform Canada’s aviation policy
Federal
5
Apply price monitoring conditions to airport concessions
Reform Canada’s aviation policy
Federal
6
Eliminate remaining aviation fuel taxes
Reform Canada’s aviation policy
Federal
Provincial
7
Raise the foreign ownership limit on Canadian airlines to 49 percent
Reform Canada’s aviation policy
Federal
8
Require bilingual service at Air Canada and airports only where numbers warrant, and end Air Canada’s requirement to keep its head office and maintenance centres in set cities
Reform Canada’s aviation policy
Federal
9
Auction remaining airport authority leases, smallest first
Reform Canada’s aviation policy
Federal
10
Eliminate airline foreign ownership restrictions entirely and renegotiate open skies agreements with the United States and Europe
Reform Canada’s aviation policy
Federal
11
Extend the National Trade Corridors Fund beyond its 2027/28 end date, committing at least $500 million a year
Diversify trade
Federal
12
Pursue trade agreements with the United Kingdom and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Diversify trade
Federal
13
Simplify customs and lower tariffs on innovation-intensive goods
Build infrastructure to support trade
Federal
14
Put the Indigenous Loan Guarantee Corporation to full use
Build infrastructure to support trade
Federal
15
Consider establishing an Indigenous Development Bank
Build infrastructure to support trade
Federal
References
Intelligence Memo
Trade Diversification Ambitions Face a Container Port Reality
Lammam, Charles · 2026
Intelligence Memo
Canada's Ports Needed Fixing Long Before Trump and Export Diversification Hove into View
Lammam, Charles · 2026
Special Policy Report
An Economic Strategy for Canada's Next Government
Lester, John · 2025
Commentary 699
Canada's Investment Crisis: Shrinking Capital Undermines Competitiveness and Wages
Robson, William B.P., and Mawakina Bafale · 2025
Intelligence Memo
Budget 2023 Interswitching Changes will Derail Supply Chains
Dachis, Benjamin · 2023
Commentary 497
Innovation Policy in Canada: A Holistic Approach
Schwanen, Daniel · 2017
Commentary 398
Full Throttle: Reforming Canada's Aviation Policy
Dachis, Benjamin · 2014
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