Policy & Positions Manual
Policy Priority Area - Transportation
Statement of Policy
Government at all levels must take a far more strategic approach to streamlining the movement of goods and services province-wide. This approach must address the connectivity of small, more remote communities, as well as providing the necessary infrastructure to facilitate the continued contribution of our resource industries to the provincial economy. Finally, governments must take a proactive and imaginative approach to managing transportation demand in our growing urban centres.
To achieve these complex goals, government must establish clear direction and policy around the importance of the provincial transportation network, as well as clear direction on the method and structure for funding and governance of transportation projects and regions.
The establishment of long-term integrated transportation strategies are essential to our economic and social development. These strategies must recognize the inter-relationships and inter-dependencies which exist between all modes of transportation and their attendant infrastructures: airlines, highways (and the concomitant bus lines and trucking systems), pipelines, railways, urban transportation (including both passengers and freight handling systems), and coastal shipping (including ferry systems).
If these strategies recognize these factors, all modes will be allowed an equal opportunity to find their most effective role in the overall system. Historically, we have tended to concentrate on one mode as the principal means of achieving government policy. This, in turn, has tended to exclude or at least hinder other forms of transportation which have played, and can play an important role in our economic and social development.
If financial assistance must be provided in order to achieve an economic or social objective, then it should be provided to the parties directly concerned with the achievement of the objective. This would enable the parties – industry or government – to purchase land transportation from the mode offering the best deal in a truly commercial and competitive environment.
The economics of transportation will be a key element in determining the magnitude of future economic expansion and our competitiveness in both the domestic and export markets. Recognition must be given to this important role. Both the Provincial and Federal Governments must recognize the absolute necessity of integrated long-term planning as opposed to a system which functions on the basis of short-term plans based on political expediency.
Conclusion
The Chamber is concerned that transportation, provincially and nationally, lacks broad policy goals and objectives. Since transportation – air, land and water-borne – is so critical to the economic and social development of Canada in general, and BC in particular, it is essential that decisions and policies be made in recognition of long-term growth and needs projections and the most effective and efficient use of one or more modes of transport.
