I. OVERVIEW OF TRANSPORTATION & COMPETITIVENESS
Transport systems move goods and services from producers to markets and move people
within and between markets. To contribute to a country’s performance in a competitive context
those transport systems should work in an efficient way.
According to a study conduced by Statistics Canada, the impact of transportation services
in the Canadian total economic output is greater than most people imagine. The share of
Canadian GDP generated by transportation reached 6.5% of the total GDP in 2006, more than
industries seen traditionally as very important, such as mining & oil and retail trade – responsible
for 5.9% and 4.8% respectively (Exhibit I).
On the Transport Canada website, the Canadian transportation network is described as
synonym of “safety, efficiency and competitiveness” and a 1997 World Economic Forum’s
Global Competitiveness Report is mentioned as having ranked first the country’s transportation
infrastructure in the G-7 group1. The focus of this paper is to analyse transportation in the light of
competitiveness and the Canadian reality regarding the subject in a more recent context.
Relation between transportation and competitiveness – A World Economic Forum approach
The World Economic Forum annually presents the Global Competitiveness Report,
composed by an in-depth analysis of the main factors that influence the competitiveness of a
country and a ranking that considers its position relative to other countries in the world. The
ranking takes in consideration 12 different components, also called pillars in the report, related to
1 Canada's Transportation System: In Canada, what is divided by geography is united by transportation, Transport
Canada. ht ...