Federal budget vows more funding for transportation

OTTAWA, ON - The federal 2017 budget includes new transportation initiatives including a National Trade Corridors Fund that is meant to address capacity constraints and freight bottlenecks at major ports of entry, in addition to improving connections between rail and highway infrastructure. The National Trade Corridors Fund is set to receive $2 billion over 11 years from the federal government to support its activities. In addition, the budget mentions an additional $5 billion will be supplied through the Canada Infrastructure Bank to focus on trade and transportation priorities. Also revealed in the budget was an allocation of $50 million over 11 years to launch a trade and Transportation Information System to support a new Canadian Centre on Transportation Data. According to the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA), there isn't a lot of national data regarding the movement of goods, and an investment in something like a Trade and Transportation Information System should improve the current situation.