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Transportation Advantage

Canada is Connected

Bordering three oceans, spanning six time zones and covering 9,970,610 square km (3,849,650 square miles), Canada is the second largest country on earth.  But distance isn’t a deterrent for businesses operating in Canada, thanks to its sophisticated infrastructure and highly developed transportation network.

Here’s Why:

Airports—Canada has 26 airports as part of the national airports system, 594 certified airports that support scheduled and non-scheduled flights, and 1,820 aerodromes that support takeoffs and landings. Toronto is the busiest airport in the country, serving as an east-west hub and handling roughly half of all passenger traffic. Canadian airports processed more than 71.5 million passengers in 2007. Source: Transport Canada, 2009.

Ports—More than 300 commercial ports and harbours move local and global goods in Canada. The Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific oceans surround Canada’s three coasts.  Canada is also home to the world’s longest inland waterway open to shipping—the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway—the industrial heart of North America. Major international ports include Halifax, Montréal and Vancouver.  Western Canadian ports offer the shortest sailing distance from North America to the Asia-Pacific region, providing a sailing-time advantage of approximately two days over all other locations in the Western Hemisphere.

Rail—Canadian railways handle 355 million metric tonnes of freight annually, much of it moving between Canada and its NAFTA partners.  The two major carriers in Canada, Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railways, cover a combined 53,000 kilometres (33,000 miles) from Vancouver to Halifax, Montreal to New Orleans and Calgary to Houston. 

Roads—Roads—with nearly 900,000 kilometres of road, Canada has enough transportation infrastructure to circle the Earth 22 times. The Trans Canada Highway, the longest national highway in the world, links all 10 provinces and is fully integrated with the US road network, including 18 major border crossings. Source: Transport Canada, 2009.


To accommodate the phenomenal growth in free trade between Canada and the US, the two countries have developed a shared Action Plan for Creating a Secure and Smart Border to speed up the movement of legitimate travellers and trade.

The busy-friendly features of the Smart Border Accord

  • FAST lanes for pre-approved low-risk commercial traffic opened at Windsor-Detroit, Sarnia-Port Huron, and Fort Erie-Buffalo.
  • Automated permit ports, transponder identification systems and joint processing centres are being tested and deployed.
  • Today, border wait times average less than 10 minutes, one of the most efficient systems in the world.