Transport Canada is modernizing its legislative and oversight frameworks to address the complexities of a digital economy. This includes updating core safety and security acts to better manage risks and support innovation, as well as improving its capability to analyze transportation data to enhance public safety.
The Canadian transportation system is becoming increasingly complex, with technological changes reshaping industries, revolutionizing business models and creating brand new markets. At the same time, innovation and technological change have raised the expectations of the industry and the public that the government will take real-time action.
Many of the Government of Canada’s priorities seek to address the shift to a digital economy, demonstrate results based on evidence, and foster innovation and economic competitiveness.
To help meet these challenges, Transport Canada (TC) has undertaken an ambitious transformation agenda that includes two feature initiatives, which focus on modernizing its safety and security legislative and oversight regimes.
The legislative modernization initiative is about modernizing TC’s core acts of Parliament, which authorize TC’s safety and security programs. The goal is to transform the safety and security legislative regime to ensure that TC can better promote efficiency and innovation. The initiative also aims to ensure that TC has the requisite tools to manage risk through a more comprehensive and flexible oversight regime, and that it can access the necessary data to identify and manage emerging issues.
Oversight modernization is about improving TC’s capability to analyze and leverage transportation-related data to inform its approach to public risk management (i.e., the risks that Canadians face when they use the transportation system). The goal is to enhance TC’s ability to understand risks throughout the transportation system, while incorporating results into its safety and security programs so that public risks are minimized (e.g., fatality rates from transportation accidents).
Taken together, these initiatives will expand the department’s knowledge base on risk-related data and performance. This will enhance TC’s ability to measure and report results over time.
For more information, please contact Statistics Canada (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca)