http://www.miningweekly.com/article/mac-lauds-initiative-to-improve-transportation-infrastructure-in-northern-canada-2017-07-05

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) has welcomed the launch of the federal government’s Trade and Transportation Corridors Initiative (TTCI), which will include an allocation of up to $400-million in dedicated funding for transportation infrastructure in Northern Canada.

The acute lack of infrastructure in Canada's remote and northern regions is inhibiting further sustainable mineral development owing to the high costs of exploring, building and operating in these regions.

A recent study co-authored by the MAC had found that it cost about two- to two-and-a-half times more to build a gold or base metals mine in northern Canada than in the south, as a result of the lack of infrastructure.

Northern communities are also dependent on carbon-intensive diesel power.

Through the TTCI, $2-billion has been allocated over 11 years to invest in the critical assets that support economic activity and the physical movement of goods and people in Canada.

"The federal government has made a significant commitment to Northern Canada through the TTCI,” MAC CEO Pierre Gratton said on Tuesday.

Building off the creation of the Remote and Northern Communities Fund, and the establishment of the Canada Infrastructure Bank, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau communicated an “unprecedented” vision for how infrastructure will transform remote and northern Canada – regions that are critically important to, and reliant on, Canada's mining sector.

"We believe government's commitment to northern infrastructure investment is both bold and essential for Canada's long-term economic growth, and certain to help attract new private sector investment," Gratton added.

The mining industry is ideally situated to generate significant and meaningful employment, spin-off business and other social and economic opportunities for Indigenous and remote and northern Canadians.

In the territories, for example, the mining industry is the single largest private sector employer of Indigenous peoples and customer of Indigenous-owned businesses, and the leading contributor to gross domestic product.

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http://globalnews.ca/news/3574612/2-update-trade-routes-u-s-canada/?utm_source=%40GlobalEdmonton&utm_medium=Twitter

Liberals offer $2 billion to update trade routes between U.S. and Canada

OTTAWA – The federal government plans to sink $2 billion into trade and transport infrastructure, including trade routes along the border with the United States that have become clogged and are in dire need of expansion.

At times, the Canadian and U.S. governments may end up sharing costs on border upgrades, Transport Minister Marc Garneau said Tuesday in announcing the plan. In other cases, he said, it may be Canadian taxpayers footing the bill alone, such as is the case with the Gordie Howe bridge between Windsor, Ont., and Detroit.

Without the planned spending, however, cargo could get caught up in bottlenecks at bridges, tunnels and ports, putting businesses in both countries in peril, Garneau warned a business audience that included the acting American ambassador.

“We must remember that we can have the best quality products and the most ambitious trade agreements in the world, but none of that will matter if we don’t move our goods efficiently and reliably to markets,” he said in a luncheon speech.

“Our customers can always look elsewhere for their needs.”

He pointed to the auto sector, where parts come from both countries and a car crosses the border multiple times before it is sold to consumers.

“That car is as Canadian as it is American, and the process to get it into your driveway keeps people employed on both sides of the border, and so those trade corridors have to keep working too.”

Speaking later with reporters, Garneau played down any suggestion that he was trying to push back against protectionist sentiments from the Trump administration, which is marking its first Independence Day in office and is looking to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement in the coming months.

The $2-billion fund announced Tuesday will go to projects that will have the biggest impact on more easily moving goods and people around the country and over borders. Proponents will be able to provide their proposals by Sept. 5, with funding to start coming out early next year.

Garneau said other projects the government will consider funding are those that mitigate the effects climate change and severe weather might have on transportation routes.

“There will be more projects than there is money and some of it will be laid out over a number of years,” he said during a Q-and-A session.

“We want to go with the most urgent and most important (projects) as early as possible.”

Of that $2 billion, the government plans to set aside $400 million towards transportation in the North, where there are few paved runways that limit what planes can fly in and increasing the costs of everyday goods.

There will also be $50 million set aside over five years to cover the cost of writing new regulations to deal with the proliferation of recreational drones, and self-driving cars that are already being tested. A further $50 million will also go to data collection so that shippers, drivers and transportation officials know where cargo is at any given time, to more easily move goods and identify areas for investments.

The money announced Tuesday is part of $10.1 billion in planned spending over the next 11 years on trade and transportation corridor projects.

About half of that money, $5 billion, will flow to projects through the soon-to-be-created infrastructure bank. The bank will use federal cash to try and leverage private investment to help pay for projects that can generate revenue and provide a profit to private investors.