Canada’s need to expand trade with Europe and Asia is a driving force behind a major new package of regulatory and permitting reforms, the country’s transportation minister said.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government unveiled legislation on September 21 that aims to speed up project approvals so that federal reviews are completed within a year. But it also included a large set of reforms aimed specifically at transportation projects and removing red tape on their construction.
“It’s really inspired by this imperative to diversify our overseas markets, to diversify away from the United States,” Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said in an interview, alluding to the tariffs and other trade disruptions imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
“There’s a very discernible east-west pattern in this, when we talk about corridors,” he said.
The legislation, which still needs to be passed in Parliament, allows for the designation of “national trade corridors” that will have performance metrics to prevent bottlenecks and improve efficiency.
It overhauls the governance system for Canada’s ports, allowing them to pursue more private investment and modernize their operations with better technology.
The bill also aims to speed up approvals and remove some regulatory hurdles for lower-risk infrastructure, such as smaller bridges and rail connections.
MacKinnon said the measures are especially focused on western Canada and getting its resources — including energy, food and critical minerals — to Pacific Ocean ports in Vancouver and Prince Rupert.
“We spend a lot of time considering that corridor because of its centrality in any kind of export development with respect to Asia,” he said.
The minister also pointed to the St. Lawrence Seaway — a system of rivers, canals and locks that connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean — as infrastructure that could be developed further to improve trade with Europe.
“We have a seaway that is not running at capacity,” MacKinnon said. The government is also working on adding container shipping facilities in Hamilton, Ontario, and relieving rail and highway congestion around the Great Lakes, he said.
There are also opportunities for more shipping in northern Canada, though those tend to be longer term and in some cases require ice-breaking capacity, MacKinnon said. Most of the discussion centers on a small port in Churchill, Manitoba, that sits on Hudson Bay and currently ships some grain and zinc concentrate.
“We’re very intrigued by the potential there,” MacKinnon said. “Churchill absolutely can become a place with real potential as the prairies’ own Atlantic port.”
He pointed to opportunities for critical minerals and energy exports, but added there are still significant infrastructure and geological challenges in the region, including the need to shore up the rail line to carry heavy loads over the waterlogged muskeg landscape.
