YELLOWKNIFE, Aug. 29, 2019 /CNW/ - The Government of Canada supports infrastructure projects that create quality middle-class jobs and boost economic growth. Enhancing the northern transportation system supports and promotes economic growth and social development, offers job opportunities, ensures greater connectivity for Northerners, increases its resilience to a changing climate, and ensures that it can adapt to innovative technologies.
Today, Michael McLeod, Member of Parliament for Northwest Territories, on behalf of the Honourable Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport, announced an investment of $900,000 for a project led by the National Research Council of Canada to create a safer, more efficient, and resilient marine transportation system in the Northwest Territories.
Marine hazards such as sea ice impact the Arctic supply chain by creating bottlenecks, affecting both trade and tourism, industries that are growing in the region due to the effects of climate change.
The project will compile environmental data and mariner knowledge using the Canadian Arctic Shipping Risk Assessment System, a data collection and software development tool. The data that is gathered will allow stakeholders in the Northwest Territories to make evidence-based risk assessments and infrastructure planning for shipping operations based on historical, current, and future climate trends.
These investments are expected to have important economic and employment benefits for the region by creating an estimated 16 jobs during implementation.
Projects in the North receiving funding are supporting northern transportation infrastructure such as ports, airports, all-season roads and bridges, and are enhancing safety, security, economic and/or social development in Canada's three territories.
The projects are also addressing the unique and urgent transportation needs in Canada's territorial North, such as access to markets, economic opportunities, communities and essential services despite difficult terrain and severe climate conditions, and the high cost of construction along Canada's northern trade corridors.
Territorial and municipal governments, Indigenous groups, not-for-profit and for-profit private-sector organizations, and federal Crown Corporations and Agencies are all eligible for funding under the National Trade Corridors Fund.
Quotes
"Our changing ice conditions impact important marine transportation. Projects like this will provide for better, more accurate data that will allow stakeholders to make more informed assessments for their shipping operations."
Michael McLeod
Member of Parliament for Northwest Territories
"Transportation is a lifeline for Northern communities and for economic development in Canada's Arctic. By finding ways to make our infrastructure more resilient, we are improving transportation safety and reliability."
The Honourable Marc Garneau
Minister of Transport
Quick Facts
- Infrastructure development is more costly in the territorial North than in southern Canada due to severe climate, difficult terrain, vast distances, limited access to materials and expertise, and a much shorter construction season.
- To improve and expand infrastructure in the northern regions of Canada, Budget 2019 increased the allocation of the National Trade Corridors Fund to Arctic and northern regions by up to $400 million over eight years, starting in 2020–21, bringing the total allocation to these regions to $800 million.
- Through the Investing in Canada plan, the Government of Canada is investing more than $180 billion over 12 years in public transit projects, green infrastructure, social infrastructure, trade and transportation routes, and Canada's rural and northern communities.
Associated Links
- National Trade Corridors Fund Backgrounder
- Trade and Transportation Corridor Initiative
- Investing in Canada Plan
- Transportation 2030
SOURCE Transport Canada
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Delphine Denis, Media Relations Manager, Office of the Honourable Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport, Ottawa, 613-991-0700, [email protected]; Media Relations, Transport Canada, Ottawa, [email protected], 613-993-0055
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