This report is the third in a series of studies by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities (the Committee) on the development of a Canadian transportation and logistics strategy. The first two reports, published in February and June of 2019, included case studies of the Niagara and Vancouver regions, and the Atlantic provinces and province of Quebec, respectively. This current report focuses on the state of Canada’s supply chain, particularly considering the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, as well as ways to protect and strengthen Canada’s supply chain infrastructure to improve its resiliency.

The Committee heard from many witnesses that Canada’s supply chain has been impacted significantly by both the COVID-19 pandemic and recent extreme weather events. However, witnesses also identified other causes for current supply chain disruptions, including long-standing labour shortages, container shortages, geopolitical tensions such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, shortages of semiconductor chips, and disharmony in certain regulatory and policy schemes.

Witnesses were nevertheless clear that these many disruptive factors serve to highlight pre-existing weaknesses in Canadian and global supply chains. The Committee heard many recommendations to increase resilience and strengthen Canada’s supply network, including methods to improve supply chain visibility, identify and address bottlenecks, shorten supply chains, and improve current and future infrastructure.

Many of the recommendations made throughout this study repeat those made by the Committee in its two earlier reports, the Interim Report on Establishing a Canadian Transportation and Logistics Strategy, and Establishing a Canadian Transportation and Logistics Strategy: Part 2.