Liberals Commit $5 Billion Fund to Develop Trade Infrastructure

Liberal Leader Mark Carney announces funding for houses during a visit to Edmonton, on March 20, 2025. The Canadian Press/Jason Franson

Liberal Leader Mark Carney is committing $5 billion to develop major infrastructure, including railways, highways, and airports, in a move aimed at strengthening Canada’s trade sector.

Carney made the announcement on March 28, one day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced 25 percent tariffs on the auto industry, with more tariffs expected in addition to those previously announced.

The Liberals said the spending will go into a Trade Diversification Corridor Fund, which will be used to develop infrastructure to help diversify trade.

The party said the fund will also create jobs and economic growth, speeding up projects at ports, railroads, inland terminals, airports, and highways.

The goal is to diversify trade from the United States, according to the Liberal Party news release.

Port Cooperation

The Liberals also announced a plan to help Canadian ports  better coordinate with each other.

“Due to the current limits on cooperation in the Canada Marine Act and the Competition Act, ports must compete with each other even in areas in which they don’t specialize,” a Liberal Party handout said.

The Liberals said allowing ports to complement each other will grow trade and the economy.

In addition, the party said it will strengthen security at borders and ports, with better container and cargo screening, new  scanners and other digital solutions including AI, and additional workers.

“These measures will help stop the flow of drugs like fentanyl and precursors, illegal guns, and auto theft,” the release said.

Conservative Plan

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks with reporters during a news conference in Ottawa on Jan. 9, 2025. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre is also calling on Canada to make key changes to strengthen its economy and trade capability.

“It’s time to build a Canadian economic fortress that will allow us to be stronger, self-reliant, sovereign, and stand on our own two feet and stand up to Trump,” Poilievre said in a March 28 post.

Poilievre said he will focus on developing trade within Canada and with other countries, as well as remove barriers to energy project development.

“By blocking pipelines and LNG plants, slow-rolling resource projects, capping our oil and gas sector, the Liberals have made us too reliant on the Americans,” Poilievre said in a campaign video.

“My government will repeal the entire carbon tax, the energy cap, the anti-pipeline law C-69. We will bring the hundreds of billions of dollars back to our economy, and we will start selling between Canadians and overseas so that we are stronger, self-reliant, sovereign, to stand on our own two feet and stand up to the Americans.”

NDP Plan

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh speaks in Ottawa on March 23, 2025. The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his party will focus on building infrastructure, including roads and hospitals, to stimulate the economy, while working on an East-West “clean energy grid” built by Canadian-sourced materials.

“The government needs to undertake a massive building plan, building more of what we need here and getting shovels in the ground faster, using public land and Canadian products to do it,” the NDP said in a March 27 news release.