VARYING ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

There are many different types of roles and responsibilities, governance models, and revenue and funding patterns amongst players in the transportation system. Some examples are:

  Class 1 rail lines are owned and operated by two private corporations, Canadian Pacific and Canadian National.

  The country's national airports are managed by independent airport authorities (with the exception of those in the northern territories). The largest are financially self-supporting from various sales, fees, and rents.

  Air Canada has been privatized, as has the air navigation system now operated by NavCanada.

  19 ports in six provinces are designated and operated independently by Canada Port Authorities (CPA) with their own sources of revenue and borrowing powers.

These self-supporting private or independently operated strategic transportation facilities do not require direct government funding support for capital projects most of the time. However, they do need policy and legislative changes to facilitate access to the financing required for infrastructure investment. The remaining nationally and regionally significant transportation infrastructure that has little or no opportunity to be financially self-sufficient needs first call on public funding.

The funding challenge is greater still for larger-scale components of the transportation system that are not financially self-supporting, such as highways, urban and inter-regional transit, urban roads, and border crossings and the routes that lead to them. Significant and sustained investments must be made in these vital components of the transportation system if they are to fulfill the economic, social, and environmental expectations that Canadians ascribe to them.