BRIEF FROM THE ST. LAWRENCE
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL
Executive summary
The St. Lawrence–Great Lakes Seaway and its components are vitally
important to the economic development of Canada and its various regions. It
provides leverage to businesses seeking access to an efficient transportation
network so they can be competitive in an increasingly globalized economy. This
system provides valuable access, linking North America’s industrial heartland with
the rest of the world. The region it serves is home to nearly 135 million
North Americans.
Given its key role in our economy, the St. Lawrence–Great
Lakes Seaway needs to remain at optimal efficiency; otherwise, our economic
competitiveness would be negatively affected. This inevitably requires
investment in the various Seaway components, including port infrastructure and
equipment, to ensure that it addresses current and future freight
transportation needs. At a time when the Government of Canada is looking to
focus on the Ontario–Quebec Continental Gateway and Trade Corridor to promote our
economic competitiveness, it is essential that the necessary funding be
allocated to this important initiative.
Providing reliable, efficient marine services is another issue that
has a major impact on the competitiveness of the St. Lawrence–Great Lakes
Seaway. One problematic issue regarding these marine services is icebreaking and
the aging fleet of Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers serving the St. Lawrence.
This means there is uncertainty as to whether the Coast Guard is able to
provide adequate icebreaking, particularly in the event of a breakdown
affecting the icebreakers. The lack of backup equipment is cause for alarm.
Marine transportation in one of North America’s key transportation routes is at
stake, with the significant economic impacts that would be caused by traffic
disruption.
Closure of the Canadian Coast Guard’s Quebec City Rescue Centre
will also have an impact on commercial shipping on the St. Lawrence,
particularly in winter. The expertise at the Quebec City Centre helps respond
to calls for assistance from ships having trouble moving through the ice. This
means that funding is needed to maintain the Canadian Coast Guard Search and
Rescue Centre at Quebec City; otherwise, irreplaceable expertise for navigating
the St. Lawrence will be lost at the Canadian Coast Guard.
Given the above, we therefore recommend the following:
Recommendation 1
Ensure that the necessary funding is available for Ontario–Quebec Continental
Gateway development projects, including port renewal and expansion.
Recommendation 2
Provide adequate funding to the Canadian Coast Guard for a multi-year plan to
renew the icebreaker fleet, including the renewal of St. Lawrence
icebreakers.
Recommendation 3
Provide the necessary funding to maintain the Canadian Coast Guard Search and
Rescue Centre at Quebec City.
Sodes
Sodes is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to representing
and promoting the interests of the St. Lawrence marine industry. Its
members are involved in all aspects of the industry: ship owners, ports, marine
shippers, stevedoring companies, sea terminals, piloting corporations, port
cities, and many others. Sodes serves as the umbrella organizing representing
the St. Lawrence marine community.
This brief submitted as part of the annual pre-budget consultations
to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance outlines Sodes’s
recommendations. These recommendations are specifically focused on the Standing
Committee’s questions into how to achieve a sustained economic recovery and how
to create quality sustainable jobs.
Economic importance of the St. Lawrence–Great Lakes Seaway
The St. Lawrence–Great Lakes Seaway and its components are
vitally important to the economic development of Canada and its various
regions. It provides leverage to businesses seeking access to an efficient
transportation network so they can be competitive in an increasingly globalized
economy. This system provides valuable access, linking North America’s
industrial heartland with the rest of the world. The region it serves is home
to nearly 135 million North Americans.
The St. Lawrence–Great Lakes transportation corridor represents
close to $575 billion in international trade for Canada, including
$110 billion in international seaborne trade. The region served by the Seaway
therefore represents close to 70% of Canada’s entire international trade.
Given its key role in our economy, the St. Lawrence–Great Lakes
Seaway needs to remain at optimal efficiency; otherwise, our economic
competitiveness would be negatively affected. This inevitably requires
investment in the various Seaway components to ensure that it addresses current
and future freight transportation needs. Based on current global trends,
international trade is expected to double every 15 to 20 years. This is
certainly reflected in the growing pressure on transportation systems, which
must be ready to meet this growing demand. All components of the international
shipping system are affected, starting with the port system at the centre of
overseas international trade. Also of note are intermodal connections that
serve port facilities, such as road and rail access, which play a key role in
the movement of freight traffic.
The challenge posed by maintaining and developing an efficient, competitive
transportation system is made greater by the fact that the St. Lawrence
port infrastructure is aging and will require investment to renew it. In many
cases, port infrastructure renewal will include expansion projects to meet
tomorrow’s shipping requirements.
Ontario–Quebec Continental Gateway
In 2007 the Government of Canada, together with the Ontario and
Quebec governments, announced the Ontario–Quebec Continental Gateway and Trade
Corridor. The goal is to develop the St. Lawrence–Great Lakes transportation
corridor in order to meet future shipping needs. This initiative falls within a
national gateway development strategy to strengthen our economic
competitiveness through a more efficient transportation system so as to avoid
potential bottlenecks in various regions across Canada. Strategies were
presented for the Pacific and Atlantic gateways. The Ontario–Quebec Continental
Gateway and Trade Corridor strategy has still not yet been announced. However,
work has been done as part of this initiative to document and identify what is
needed to establish the Continental Gateway. The governments involved,
including Canada, conducted several studies to fully analyze the Trade Corridor
in order to ultimately develop a strategy and action plan to guide future
actions. Representatives from the private sector serve as policy advisors to
the governments within the Continental Gateway structure. The private sector
has also taken steps to identify priorities for establishing a St. Lawrence–Great
Lakes trade corridor. It has therefore produced a study that outlines key
shipping trends and the anticipated bottlenecks within the system. A series of
recommendations has also been made in terms of infrastructure investment as
well as other measures in such areas as regulations and labour force training.
One of the key points in the private sector recommendations
concerns expanding port system capacity on the St. Lawrence. Ports are
gateways for almost all international trade to and from overseas, and it is
critical that they remain competitive for the sake of our businesses’
competitiveness and our economic vitality. The private sector vision for the
Trade Corridor certainly involves considerable government investment. This
investment is crucial to achieve the following key objectives:
· Strategically position the St. Lawrence–Great Lakes Corridor
on continental and world markets to meet expected demand over the next 10 to 20
years;
· Improve the transportation system’s long-term competitiveness by
delivering services, infrastructure and a regulatory environment that are
effective;
· Maximize the Corridor’s human and material resource potential;
and
· Promote prosperity and an improved quality of life for the region
by operating a safe, reliable and green transportation system.
The recommendation regarding the Continental Gateway is framed
within the context of the above objectives and the major role the
St. Lawrence–Great Lakes Seaway plays in driving our economic growth.
Recommendation 1
Ensure that the necessary funding is available for Ontario–Quebec Continental
Gateway development projects, including port renewal and expansion.
Canadian Coast Guard icebreaking services
Providing reliable, efficient marine services is another issue that
has a major impact on the competitiveness of the St. Lawrence–Great Lakes
Seaway. One problematic issue regarding these marine services is icebreaking
and the aging fleet of Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) icebreakers serving the
St. Lawrence. This means there is uncertainty as to whether the CCG is
able to provide adequate icebreaking, particularly in the event of a breakdown
affecting the icebreakers. The lack of backup equipment is cause for alarm.
Marine transportation in one of North America’s key transportation routes is at
stake, with the significant economic impacts that would be caused by traffic
disruption.
Five vessels in the CCG icebreaking fleet are already over
30 years old, and several others are not much newer. The aging fleet is a
major cause for concern in light of its potential impact on safe and efficient
marine operations in winter. The CCG highlighted the fact that their icebreakers
will soon reach the end of their useful lives and that they are expensive to
maintain due to maintenance and repair requirements that make them unavailable
for service.[1] The situation is all the more alarming given that it may take up to ten years
to bring new vessels into service, during which time the current stock will
continue to be relied upon.
The CCG has sought funding from the Department of Finance for a
multi-year fleet renewal plan, including the renewal of icebreakers on the
St. Lawrence. In the view of Sodes, funding such a plan is essential since
it would provide for the replacement of aging Coast Guard vessels according to
a pre-determined schedule rather than taking a piecemeal approach with all the
uncertainty this would imply regarding the future reliability of the
St. Lawrence icebreaking fleet.
For a number of years now, the St. Lawrence marine industry
has been calling on the Government of Canada to provide the funding needed to
renew the CCG icebreaking fleet. Sodes wishes to restate this request given the
critical importance of the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaking fleet to the safe
and efficient operations of the St. Lawrence–Great Lakes Seaway, the
competitiveness of this critical transportation route for trade, and our
economic competitiveness.
The approved plans to replace the CCG fleet do not provide for the
replacement of the aging icebreakers in the St. Lawrence. Of the planned
$1.6 billion investment, $720 million is earmarked for the
construction of a new polar icebreaker to be ready for 2017. It would be mainly
for Northern operations and would not expand the service available to
St. Lawrence shipping.
Recommendation 2
Provide adequate funding to the Canadian Coast Guard for a multi-year plan to
renew the icebreaker fleet, including the renewal of St. Lawrence icebreakers.
Canadian Coast Guard Search and Rescue Centre at Quebec City
The Canadian Coast Guard recently announced the closure of the search
and rescue coordination centre in Quebec City due to insufficient funds to
maintain it. This will lead to job losses for about 10 staff providing the
various users of the St. Lawrence with bilingual search and rescue
services. Recreational boating on the St. Lawrence will be the first industry
to suffer the impact. Each year, between 1,000 and 1,500 distress calls
are made on the St. Lawrence, mainly by boaters. These calls will now be
handled in Ontario and Nova Scotia. Several are concerned about the capacity of
these centres to respond to these distress calls quickly and efficiently in
English and French. Another concern lies with the loss of Coast Guard response
expertise specifically regarding the St. Lawrence. Staff at the Quebec
City office possess unique expertise in navigating the St. Lawrence, which
may be lost with the closure of the Quebec City centre. This closure could lead
to delays in Coast Guard rescue operations on the St. Lawrence, thereby
endangering lives.
Closure of the Canadian Coast Guard’s Quebec City Rescue Centre
will also have an impact on commercial shipping on the St. Lawrence,
particularly in winter. The expertise at the Quebec City Centre helps respond
to calls for assistance from ships having trouble moving through the ice. The
special expertise possessed by Quebec City centre staff in navigating and
icebreaking on the St. Lawrence is at risk of being lost, thereby reducing
the quality of absolutely essential services for shipping. The St. Lawrence
Seaway’s efficiency and competitiveness are at stake here, and we firmly
believe that it is not acceptable to compromise in this area or in terms of
safety.
Recommendation 3
Provide the necessary funding to maintain the Canadian Coast Guard
Search and Rescue Centre at Quebec City.