The pandemic highlighted the important role Canada’s airports play in our country’s economy and in sustaining the social and economic well-being of our communities. As Canada’s air sector continues to recover, investments in airport infrastructure are crucial to ensuring that Canadian travellers have access to safe and reliable air transportation options.
The Minister of Transport, the Honourable Omar Alghabra, and the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Ottawa International Airport Authority, Mr. Mark Laroche, and the Member of Parliament for Ottawa South, the Honourable David J. McGuinty, will announce new funding for important transportation infrastructure projects at the airport.
A resilient rail transportation system is critical to strong supply chains and keeping those who live along rail lines safe. Recent events like the 2021 wildfires and floods have shown the impacts climate change and extreme weather events can have on communities and our transportation networks. We must continue to adapt and prepare for these impacts. This is why the Government of Canada is taking important steps towards addressing climate change on railway infrastructure.
Ensuring that Canadians have access to safe, efficient and reliable air travel is a top priority for the Government of Canada. This past summer demonstrated how much work remains to be done to ensure a strong recovery of the sector and the ongoing need for collaboration between partners. It is only by continuing to improve that we can grow the industry and our economy, create good jobs for Canadians, and ensure reliable service for travellers.
The Gitga’at and Gitxaala Nations have occupied the lands and waters around their coastal communities of Hartley Bay and Kitkatla, on the North Pacific Coast of what is now called Canada, for millennia. Their use of the waterways to travel to and access fishing and marine harvesting areas is a key facet of their rich culture and history. That is why ensuring those activities can continue is essential to maintaining their cultural, social, and economic wellbeing. In that context, increased use of those waterways for commercial marine transportation, a mainstay of Canada’s economy, can present challenges.
As Canada’s air sector continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, investments in our airport infrastructure are crucial to keeping travellers, workers, and communities safe.
With the longest coastline in the world, keeping our oceans safe and clean is a top priority for the Government of Canada. Since its launch in 2016, the Oceans Protection Plan—the largest investment ever made to protect our oceans and keep our coastlines clean—has led to over 50 initiatives and the completion of more than 300 projects to keep our waters safe and clean from coast-to-coast-to-coast.
The Minister of Transport, the Honourable Omar Alghabra, is expected to table the Strengthening the Port System and Railway Safety in Canada Act in the House of Commons shortly after 10:00 a.m. ET tomorrow.
An efficient and resilient transportation supply chain is key to expanding Canada’s economic capacity and productivity. The proposed legislative amendments under the Strengthening the Port System and Railway Safety in Canada Act aim to amend current legislation and modernize the way Canada’s marine and rail transportation systems operate and remove systemic barriers.