1. Home
2. Policy, Research and Statistics
3. Economic Analysis
4. Economic Analysis

Economic Analysis

Economic Analysis conducts analysis and research in order to understand and explain trends and the evolution of the different elements of the Canadian Transportation system. The economic analyses support policymaking, program development and decision-making.  The scope of analysis is all modes of transportation and all facets of socio-economic aspects of transportation services allowing the Department to understand the changes in the supply and demand of transportation services in Canada.  The work deals with matters such as taxation, financial performance of carriers, performance of the different elements of the transportation system, efficiency considerations, logistics considerations, infrastructure needs, costs, industry structure, competitiveness and competition issues, modal comparisons as well as comparisons of the Canadian Transportation system with those of other countries.

These analyses also allow the Department to track the performance of the Canadian transportation system in the context of the National Transportation Policy objectives.  The clients are the Minister and senior officials of the department, modal policy groups and other groups within Transport Canada.

The Directorate also has a data and systems development function, which includes the collection, protection and dissemination of socio economic data of relevance to the Canadian Transportation system.  In order to efficiently carry out these data-related responsibilities, there is a requirement to develop complex, user-friendly IM applications.  The underlying objective here is to minimize the reporting burden on the transportation stakeholders, an objective that also requires the coordination of data collection with Statistics Canada.  The “clients” for the data and systems functions are found in most groups, with very limited exceptions, throughout the department.

The Directorate’s forecasts function focuses on the development of traffic forecasts, which allow the directorate and the department to identify possible upcoming issues in relation to the country’s transportation system. The objective is to develop credible forecasts of transportation activities and to link back the forecasts to analysis of performance and basic fundamental demand/supply analysis. Clients are internal (modal policy groups, other groups within TC as well as outside clients, mainly the new operators of the divested elements of the transportation operations systems (airports, Nav Canada).

The Directorate is also responsible for coordinating the production of an annual overview of the state of transportation tabled in the House of Commons in May of each year (the most recent being the Transportation in Canada 2010 Overview) and for developing every five years a more comprehensive report (the last one: Annual Report 2006 tabled in May of 2007) in compliance with Section 52 of the Canada Transportation Act.

« Return to the homepage of Economic Analysis

Date modified:

2011-12-18

Primary navigation