Canada's trade doors and corridors need improving if the country is to take advantage of new global opportunities.
Done right, those improvements could finally elevate Canada from its traditional subservient resource bank standing to a leadership trading role in North America while divisive American protectionist policies prevail south of the border. But seizing that opportunity will require more than the usual passive Canadian approach that continues to confirm in offshore eyes a land of low competitiveness and high regulatory complication. It will also require significant investment in goods movement infrastructure.
Early this century, the country invested heavily in the Asia-Pacific Gateway and other trade arteries that are critical to moving what Transport Canada estimates is $1 trillion annually in goods. But Canada’s trade infrastructure needs much more investment now if it is to take advantage of new trade agreements and global goods demand.
Ten years ago, the World Economic Forum ranked Canada’s trade infrastructure 10th overall in the world in its annual survey of economic competitiveness, but as the Canada West Foundation (CWF) noted recently, that ranking has dropped to 32nd.
British Columbians need look no further than the lengthy process to expand container cargo capacity at the Port of Vancouver’s Roberts Bank terminal to see the roadblocks shippers and traders face in this country. Little wonder then that, as the CWF points out, even though Canada’s trade opportunities are increasing with free-trade deals and growing global demand, confidence in its trade infrastructure is declining.
Among the CWF’s proposed solutions to reverse that decline in Canada’s ability to compete internationally is to make national trade corridor investment a permanent part of the country’s game plan and, more importantly, base that investment on continually updated trade metrics and freight flow forecasting while decoupling it from politics.
The latter task might present the biggest challenge for Canada’s leaders, but it is vital to keeping the country – not just its ruling political parties – competitive.
