The Council of Canadian Academies Launches Assessment on the Social and Economic Value of Commercial Marine Shipping in Canada

(Ottawa – November 3, 2015) The Council of Canadian Academies is pleased to announce that it has received a new question for assessment on the Social and Economic Value of Commercial Marine Shipping in Canada. The Clear Seas Centre for Responsible Marine Shipping (Clear Seas) engaged the Council to address the following questions:What is the social and economic value of commercial marine shipping to Canada and its regions*? How will global trends related to shipping affect future shipping activity in Canada?

Shipping is vital to the competitiveness of Canadian commodity exports and is a lynchpin in many Canadian supply chains. In addition to its economic value, shipping is also critical to coastal community survival and food security in the Arctic, as it is often the only source of food and other supplies for Canada’s most northern communities. Current trends in technology, climate change, emerging markets, and other factors, however, may influence the value of commercial marine shipping in the future.

The Council’s Board of Governors has officially approved the questions, and preliminary background research has begun. Under the guidance of its Scientific Advisory Committee, the Council is now assembling an independent, multidisciplinary expert panel to ensure the most authoritative, credible, and independent responses to the questions.

This assessment on the value of marine shipping, is a separate but complementary follow-on project to the workshop on the Risks of Marine Shipping in Canadian Waters, also referred to the Council by Clear Seas.To learn more about the Council’s active assessments, visit Assessments in Progress.*The regions are: Atlantic Canada, Central Canada (Quebec and Ontario), Northern Canada (including Arctic and the three territories), the Prairies, and Western Canada (British Columbia and Alberta).