Ottawa urged to prioritize Pacific trade corridor

The federal government is determined to diversify trade away from the United States, and the only way that happens is by moving more goods, grain, oilseeds, petroleum, minerals and other products by rail or road to ports.

To help accomplish this mission, the feds have designated four trade corridors that link major production regions to overseas markets.

Of the four, one corridor is clearly the most important, says the president and chief executive officer of Fertilizer Canada.

“I would argue that the Prairies to Vancouver is the No. 1 corridor (that) we need to focus on,” Michael Bourque said from his office in Ottawa.

The federal government has created a Trade Diversification Corridors Fund, which designates four corridors as nationally significant:

• Pacific
• The Prairies
• Central (Ontario/Quebec)
• Atlantic

The Pacific route enables the export of “energy, grain, potash, metals, and minerals produced primarily in the Prairies and Western Canada,” says Transport Canada’s website.

Export data and volume product clearly shows that this corridor is the most significant export route in the country.