Canada has several thousand kilometres of coastline along which communities are located. For example, the Fraser River and other rivers flow through BC communities that are vulnerable to flooding. Floods from rivers and oceans could destroy or affect residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural properties as well as affect transportation means (roads, highways, bridges) and cause widespread disruption to day-to-day living requiring significant expenditure to restore areas back to pre-flood conditions.

The damage to the economy and businesses due to floods are significant, in the hundreds of million dollars.

Canada’s long-term prosperity hinges on the expansion of its industrial base. However, municipalities face mounting challenges in funding the infrastructure needed to support job-creating development. Municipalities require predictable revenue to fund growth-related infrastructure without resorting to unsustainable tax-funded exemptions. Industrial developers deserve access to flexible cost recovery mechanisms just as residential developers now do under recent legislative changes.

Global supply chain disruptions continue to impact businesses and consumers worldwide. While trade and e-commerce have stabilized since the post-pandemic surge, new challenges – such as geopolitical instability, climate-related events, and labour shortages – cause persistent delays across critical sectors. Canadian businesses face mounting pressure to manage these disruptions while maintaining service and cost expectations. These issues are compounded by underinvestment in technologies that provide real-time visibility into supply chain operations, and in contingency planning strategies. Strengthening these areas is essential to ensuring Canada’s long-term economic competitiveness and ability to respond to future crises.

Canada’s largest export market is the United States of America for raw materials, manufactured goods, and many other products. Canada was caught flat-footed when our largest trading partner in the United States threatened to place severe tariffs on our exports entering their country. Our over-reliance on one trading partner was exposed as such tariffs would cripple American buying power and by extension demand for Canadian products. Canada must diversify its export customer base by building the infrastructure required to ship in greater volume to other markets in the Asia-Pacific and Europe to be better insulated against any singular, large customer taking their business elsewhere.

Canada faces persistent delays and political challenges in developing large-scale infrastructure projects—particularly pipelines, power transmission, and clean energy—despite significant need and public interest. To foster public support and unlock capital, the federal government should enable and incentivize the use of retail debt instruments, allowing Canadians to directly invest in, and benefit from, the infrastructure projects shaping the nation’s future.

Improved interprovincial trade could result in significant growth opportunities for Canadian business. These improvements can be achieved by removing barriers such as those which add costs and delays to transport trucking. The Government of Canada should work to support and coordinate this harmonization process across all federal partners.

Despite the adoption of the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) in 2017, internal trade barriers continue to impose significant costs on Canadian businesses by limiting access to interprovincial markets and creating a patchwork of compliance requirements. These barriers contribute to estimated economic losses of up to $80 billion annually which, if resolved, could result in a gain of approximately 3.8% to national GDP {1}.
For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular, navigating regulatory differences across provinces remains prohibitively complex due to the absence of a centralized, authoritative source of information.

Legislation should be introduced designating rail as an essential service to avoid future service disruptions and unnecessary financial losses for businesses of all sizes across all sectors in Canada.

Nationwide delays in civil aviation medical certification constrain Canada’s pilot training system, drive up costs, weaken industry competitiveness, and pose long-term risks to workforce readiness and national air transportation resilience.

Issue
Canada is facing a critical infrastructure gap. Rapid population growth, projected to reach 45.2 million by 2040{4}, and a housing target of 5.8 million units by 2030{1} have placed unsustainable pressure on municipal infrastructure. However, current funding is insufficient to meet the growing demand for water and wastewater systems, electrical grids, and roads. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) estimates that infrastructure costs for new housing average $107,000 per home{2}. Municipalities cannot absorb this cost without compromising housing affordability. Property taxes and development charges are not sustainable as primary revenue tools. While initiatives like Ontario’s $600M Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (2024){