Getting to Prosperity with National Corridors

Unlocking Canada's Potential through Sustainable Transportation Solutions

It’s January 2025 and Canada is faced with many economic and development decisions. The election of Donald J. Trump as President of the United States of America has brought forward many issues that have been ignored and delayed for too long. America is Canada’s largest trading partner. Two thirds of Canada’s GDP is because of trade. Most of our trade is with the USA, almost 75% of it, which means that 50% of our GDP relies on the USA.

If Canada had not shut down various pipeline projects to the West- and East coast, specifically the Northern Gateway and Energy East, as well as the KXL, Canada would have had more options for export of energy. In other words, a more diversified trade balance. Canada has denied LNG to Taiwan, Germany, Greece, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines when we could have obtained a varied market option, and a higher GDP. In addition, Canada has developed poor relations with India. All of this is relative to hydrocarbon marketing. In addition, Canada is ranked by Bloombergto be No. 1 in the supply chain list for electric battery components relative to its resource potential and manufacturing potential. Canada ranks 9th in the world in wheat production. Canada ranks 8th in barley, 1st in canola and 4th in the world in sawnwood. Canada is the leading nation in the world in potash production, the 2nd largest producer of uranium, the 6th largest nickel producer in the world, the 12th largest producer of copper and lastly the 12th largest producer of aluminum. Canada is among the top producers of metals and non-metallic minerals in the world. It is the second largest producer of niobium and uranium, and third largest producer of precious diamonds and palladium (by metal content). And yet, as a leading producer in all these valuable commodities, Canada does most of its trade with the USA. Why? Because it is easy and we have not developed adequate transportation- and port infrastructure to access, produce transport and ship our vast array of products to the world and diversify our markets.

Instead of working at diversifying our market options we have minimized them leading to economic stagnation and falling behind the rest of the world. At home, we have also trade barriers for each province to deal with. We have let our existing national trade and transportation infrastructure age and decay across the country. We have not developed our critical mineral resources, and we have been slow to look at building new transportation, telecommunications, and energy infrastructure across the mid- and north of Canada. In addition, Canada has neglected spending on its defence forces and its protection of our sovereignty relative to our northern and southern borders. This has caused a further rift with the USA.

Canada is at a historical junction. It is the second largest country by land area in the world. Our natural resources within Canada give it the potential to lead the world in resource use and export. What is holding Canada back is that its major area of population is just in the bottom 300 km next to the United States to its north, and that is where most of our infrastructure exists. The area north of that bottom strip is more sparsely populated and for the most part devoid of major infrastructure that can sustain the health, security, and livability of that local population. The natural resources Canada is abundantly blessed with, are in the mid-, and northern parts of Canada. However, the southern portion of Canada is facing infrastructure ageing (which over time negatively effects output and productivity); and the northern portion is undeveloped and waiting for vast and productive investment for decades. What is evident is that now we must develop access, as a matter of urgency and top priority to our northern resources and at the same time improve the living- and working conditions for the population that can develop and deliver our resources while accessing their own opportunities towards prosperity.

?The harsh reality is with each passing year, Canada is losing prosperity, making catching up an ever-widening void. On top of that, it is already starting to show that, resource development, critical transportation infrastructure development and healthcare competes for the scarce dollars. Canada is facing an ageing population, which also means higher healthcare investment requirements. The idea is to grow Canada’s population to ~100 million people by 2100. Its not realistic if GDP cannot expand at a faster rate to accommodate new immigrants to reach that goal. The risk exists that without compounded efforts to prioritise transportation infrastructure in a multi-model approach, GPD per capita will continue to decline, productivity to continue to decline making Canada hopelessly uncompetitive with the rest of the world.

To develop its natural resources, Canada needs to provide adequate means of reliable freight transportation to- and from the area in the form of highways and rail. To support the sustainability of local populations and businesses, and industry there needs to be adequate telecommunication and broadband and a secure source of power (electric power grid). Also needed is a supply of clean energy (either natural gas, hydrogen, or ammonia, or a combination of all).

?Without compounded transportation infrastructure investments, now, Canada’s economy faces compounded risk of decline. Looked at differently, the bulk of infrastructure investment dollars is the responsibility of municipal -, and provincial governments. Since the 1960’s this responsibility has been pushed down by the Federal Government, notwithstanding re-allocating dollars from the fuel taxes being collected from citizens. The cost of new infrastructure investment has grown faster than what the Federal Government can collect, combined with a Canadian culture that generally knows little about the importance of adequate and forward-looking transportation infrastructure. There is the general expectation that governments are responsible for providing “free” use of critical infrastructure. Canadian culture is not supportive of income generating transportation infrastructure, like toll roads. The reality is that without action now, the ability to sustain that model will diminish. Many underdeveloped countries have moved away from government owned and operated transportation infrastructure due to sharp deficits between the means and the needs. And yet, income generating transportation infrastructure performs well, amid the involvement more so of the private sector in developing, managing, and maintaining new transportation infrastructure on a “pay-for-use” basis.

Since the late 1950’s there have been frequent calls for a national corridor to assist in delivering these necessary services. Canada ProsperUnity (“CPUC”) believes that we can wait no longer. Canada needs to develop this now and it is no easy task. It is laborious and will take multi-decades to fully bring it in use. The reality is, the longer Canada waits on this, the more prosperity and wealth is lost (never to be made up), the higher the risk of increasing federal budget deficits amid high demand for health services investment amid our ageing population. With the backdrop of an ageing Canadian population, demands for infrastructure investment dollars will reduce. As a result, Canada will find it increasingly challenging to improve productivity and generate more GDP that supports financial prosperity. This all boils down to a serious lack within the bureaucracy inside government structures riding the complacency-wave of yester-year combined with a believe that budgets balance itself. It will be expensive, and it will require a nation to be involved. We can ask the rhetorical question, “How do you consume an elephant,” the answer is “bit-by-bit.” The same applies to properly securing Canada’s future and prosperity. We build and develop bit-by-bit against a fully encompassing game plan that define corridor demarcations, now. Ready to be developed over multi-decades and centuries, but on a “pre-approved” environmental and indigenous basis. The goal is to pave the way forward for faster execution on future mega infrastructure projects in LNG, Telecommunications, Renewable Energy, Electric Grid expansion, Primary and Secondary roads, and rail. Corridor developments should be viewed as the establishing the “straw” that will serve as conduit for future specific needs. CPUC has over the past few years refined what such a detailed approach should look like. We are answering our call by thinking and focusing first on what is more important than only the costs. The reality is the costs of such initiatives do not need to be expensed all in a single year. Smart strategic planning combined with the necessary enabling pillars can cement the starting blocks for a productive infrastructure era in Canada.

• Not since the development of the Canadian Pacific Railway as part of John A. MacDonald’s national policy, do we have an opportunity to build? modern infrastructure for the 21st century that could have a dramatic impact on Canada’s global trading patterns and economic growth?(Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce, 2017). NATIONAL CORRIDOR ENHANCING AND FACILITATING COMMERCE AND INTERNAL TRADE: Page 4– Jack Mintz).
• While the U.S. will remain an important market for Canadian energy production going forward, it is becoming increasingly self-sufficient in its own production. New infrastructure will be required in Canada to connect to new markets, to ensure we can obtain full global prices for our energy production going forward.?(Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce, 2017) – Natural Resources Canada;
• The Federal Government’s paper on Canada’s Growth Challenge titled THE INNOVATION AND COMPETITIVENESS IMPERATIVE SEIZING OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH (Page 5) states: “This is the moment to make moves. Not just Canada’s moment: a global moment. But in how we respond, we can define our share of what the future will bring. Are we going to own our destiny or be part of someone else’s master plan?”

PART TWO TO FOLLOW