Gary Mar
Published in The Hill Times
July 21, 2025
Improving trade corridors does not rest solely on the shoulders of one government or industry. It requires formal cooperation and coordination to drive targeted, long-term investment.
Trade instability has forced Canada to look inward.
As part of efforts to grow the economy and to establish new trade partnerships, the federal government is working to accelerate the approval and construction of major nation-building projects. Provinces are moving to remove inter-provincial trade barriers. Alberta is championing a new pipeline.
These are big ideas.
Across the country, fingers are crossed that, once approved, these major projects will bring significant economic benefits to Canadian industries. But it will take years before any of them are complete.
In the meantime, the small inefficiencies in trade networks should not be ignored. Addressing these could reduce the strain on Western trade infrastructure and improve performance.
In Alberta, as in the other prairie provinces, industries depend on rail, ports, and roads to deliver products to markets, but the capacity and efficiency of these corridors have not kept pace with demand. This is especially true for commodities other than pipeline-reliant oil and gas. Some oil travels in rail cars but oil and gas are mostly pipelined to ports or into the United States. Recent improved pipeline infrastructure capacity has diminished, although it has not eliminated the delivery of crude by rail.
More than half of Alberta’s rail exports move through British Columbia to ports or marine terminals. In 2023, over 70 per cent of Alberta exports bound for non-American markets, primarily wheat, coal, canola seeds and various chemicals, were shipped through Vancouver or Prince Rupert.
On top of that, these industries in Alberta continue to grow. Between 2013 and 2023, beef exports rose from $1.1-billion to $3.9-billion, canola from $3.1-billion to $4.5-billion, and wheat exports from $2.9-billion to $3.5-billion.
These sectors want to produce and sell more, but they can’t get their goods to market efficiently or reliably.
Rail capacity has long been an intractable issue across Canada. In Alberta, about 55 per cent of non-pipeline exports are shipped by rail. Exporters say they face an uncompetitive rail environment and limited capacity. The duopoly held by CN and CPKC gives the railways significant leverage in contract negotiations, especially in regions where only one railway owns the line. But capacity is not the only factor causing delivery delays – service is also affected by bad weather, labour strikes and increasingly by natural disasters like floods and wildfires.
Slowdowns are particularly harmful to agriculture, where perishable goods must move quickly. When shipments arrive late, businesses risk losing customers and reputation.
Improving Alberta’s rail corridors is a pressing need, but the rest of the supply chain also requires attention. Increasing seaport capacity can open new markets and improve leverage in current ones.
Vancouver is Alberta’s most important port, but globally it ranks low in efficiency. While efforts are underway to expand capacity, the Lower Mainland’s dense urban setting limits future growth.
Prince Rupert, B.C.’s other major port, is expected to become Canada’s second largest by 2030, surpassing Montreal. But it is served by a single CN-owned rail line, and this monopoly has contributed to skepticism among exporters about its value and viability. Over the past decade, Alberta wheat growers have doubled exports through Vancouver, while volumes through Prince Rupert have contracted.
The Port of Churchill, Man., meanwhile, has potential to facilitate western Canadian producer access to European markets, but the exact scale of that potential remains contested. Though upgrades to the port are currently underway, hundreds of millions of dollars of investment would be required before it could be a meaningful outlet for Alberta shippers.
Many Alberta commodities take their first step in the supply-chain journey by road. A major challenge to road maintenance planning is choosing from a vast number of competing projects. Considering the economic value of high-traffic export routes would help provincial governments set maintenance priorities.
But improving trade corridors does not rest solely on the shoulders of one government or industry. It requires formal cooperation and coordination to drive targeted, long-term investment. Regional and national planning works best when governments, industries, railways, ports and Indigenous groups work together to gather intelligence, share insights and avoid duplication of effort when identifying shovel-worthy projects.
Alberta and Ontario have signed an agreement to advance pipelines and railways, aiming to boost inter-provincial trade and reduce dependence on the U.S. A similar agreement between Alberta and B.C. could support both pipeline and non-pipeline infrastructure. It could support Alberta to move its good to foreign markets more efficiently, while B.C. could gain from new investments, infrastructure and recognition of the role its network plays in western Canadian trade.
This is not just an Alberta and B.C. issue. Siloed supply chain planning affects all provinces. As Canada looks to align around large-scale projects and inter-provincial trade, it should also focus on smaller upgrades that can make a large difference to exports and strengthen our reputation as a trade partner.
Optimizing existing infrastructure may not make headlines, but it can give Canada a well-oiled western trade network to support the major projects industries hope to see built under Ottawa’s new mandate.
Gary Mar is president and CEO of the Canada West Foundation.