CMC Welcomes Budget 2025 Commitments, Seeks Partnership to Unlock Canada’s Potential

The Chamber of Marine Commerce (CMC) welcomes the Government of Canada’s Budget 2025 and its strong focus on trade-enabling infrastructure and northern gateways. The inland and coastal marine shipping sector appreciates the priority that the budget placed on ports, supply chains, and Arctic infrastructure, and stands ready to partner with the Government of Canada to ensure the budget’s ambition translates into concrete action at marine terminals, customs gateways, and northern sea routes. Further to that point, the CMC is keen to maximize the potential benefits that would be gained the following specific budget initiatives:

• The creation of a $5 billion Trade Diversification Corridors Fund to invest in port, rail, airport and digital infrastructure. CMC strongly supports this measure, as expanding port capacity, improving inter-modal links and enhancing customs gateway functionality are vital to ensuring Canada’s competitiveness in a shifting global trade environment.  As the overwhelming majority of goods used in society come to businesses and consumers by ship, using this fund to enhance marine shipping infrastructure will contribute significantly towards strengthening supply chains, diversifying trade, and enabling nation building projects. The CMC is ready to work with Transport Canada to maximize the value of every dollar invested.

• The $1 billion, four-year Arctic Infrastructure Fund for northern transportation assets — including seaports, all-season roads and runways. CMC members have long played vital roles in supporting logistics in northern and arctic areas, and in keeping with their leadership in that regarding the CMC encourages the Government of Canada to ensure that this northern infrastructure agenda actively engages marine terminals, shipping operators and Indigenous northern communities to deliver stronger marine logistic infrastructure. We welcome engagement on this matter as projects are supported over the coming year.

• The commitment to have the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) work to identify more ports for container import and export. A study recently prepared for the Chamber of Marine Commerce showed definitively that expanding CBSA container clearance services to six ports along the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Seaway system would create tens of millions of dollars in regional economic development opportunities across Canada, generate significant new tax revenues, and see all federal investment fully recouped in a matter of months. The CMC welcomes the commitment to focus on this matter as a means of building national self-reliance and economic strength, and encourages the Federal Government to act with urgency in supporting the many CMC member ports that stand ready to bolster regional economic development in their respective areas.

“Budget 2025 showed that the Government of Canada understands the central role that marine shipping plays in realizing major projects and building economic strength,” said Joshua H. Juel, President and CEO of the Chamber of Marine Commerce. “The CMC’s members are shippers of foundational commodities, ports, terminals, and ship operators – all of whom are central contributors to Canada’s ability to compete globally, and are ready to partner with the government on mutual goals. The challenge now is execution: making sure these budget commitments and funding allocations translate into supply chain enhancements that serve Canada, not just tomorrow, but for decades to come.”