In most of Canada, the automobile remains the dominant mode of transportation. For many, the automobile provides unparallelled accessibility, flexibility, and convenience, particularly outside of the largest urban centres. Road transportation also serves as a critical link for the movement of goods, serving as the backbone of the supply chain supporting local economies and connecting Canadian goods to market. However, this reliance on cars brings challenges including congestion, inequity, and environmental impact.
The dominance of the automobile in Canadian cities has its roots in deliberate policy decisions, particularly the Curtis Report in 1944. As millions of Canadian soldiers returned following World War II, Canada experienced an unprecedented housing crisis. In response, the federal government commissioned the Curtis Report, proposing a strategy of rapid development of single-family homes in suburban communities.
While the Curtis Report provided desperately-needed housing quickly, it also shifted Canadian housing development away from compact urban living and towards lower-density suburban developments, where automobiles were essential for mobility. For decades, subsequent policy reinforced this pattern of development, with investment in road infrastructure to serve sprawling suburbs. This entrenched car dependency, a trend that Canadian cities are trying to reverse today.
In 2023, over eight in ten Canadian commuters used the automobile as their primary mode of transportation to work. Even in the largest urban centres where transit usage was the highest, the car remained the most popular commuting option, with 69%, 73%, and 74% of commuters in the Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto regions respectively choosing to do so. This is largely similar to data from before the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This reliance on vehicles has resulted in significant impacts on quality of life. Toronto and Vancouver consistently rank among the most congested cities in the world, with drivers in Toronto losing an average of 98 hours per year in rush hour commutes. In addition to impact on quality of life, congestion also results in lost productivity and takes a toll on the economy - in the greater Toronto region alone, traffic congestion was estimated to cost the economy $6 billion per year. Driving is also highly carbon-intensive, contributing significantly to Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions.
For more information on the carbon impact of cars in Canadian Cities, as well as new technologies such as electric vehicles, visit the Environment and Mobility page.
Roads are typically maintained at the municipal level, with the exception of provincial highways. All three levels of government can be involved in funding new transportation infrastructure investment.
The federal government typically leads higher-level policy affecting the entire national mobility system, such as alleviating congestion on key corridors through its National Supply Chain strategy. The federal government has also been involved in the implementation of key policies aimed at reducing the carbon emissions of vehicles on Canadian roads, such as promoting the availability of electric vehicles.
Many municipalities in Canada have developed their own strategies to manage congestion, typically by encouraging the adoption of transit and active transportation. In Metro Vancouver, Translink has investigated the possibility of implementing mobility pricing to decrease congestion. This approach has been used to combat congestion in cities around the world such as London, Milan, and Singapore.
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