Volume-Related Composite Price Index Consultation, 2025

On this page

• Background
• How to Participate
• Who can see your feedback
• Confidential Information
• Reference materials
• Initial public submissions
• Responses to initial submissions

Background

On July 10, 2025, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) launched consultations to review the forecasting models used in determining the Volume-Related Composite Price Index (VRCPI).

The Agency is seeking input from industry stakeholders on how they view the effectiveness of the current models and whether or not they have suggestions for improvement (that is, is there a specific change that may increase the effectiveness of the model and hence, reduce the variance between the forecasted price change and the actual price change), or is there a defensible alternative methodology that stakeholders might feel would be a superior approach.

The CTA has prepared a VRCPI paper that describes the current models for the labour, fuel and material components of the VRCPI and poses specific questions of interest.

How to Participate

You are invited to respond to all questions, or simply those questions that are of interest to you or your organization. Your answers will help the CTA decide whether to make any changes to the forecasting models used in determining the VRCPI. Your submissions can be sent to grain@otc-cta.gc.ca.

Important Dates

Submissions by mail can be sent to:

Secretariat, Canadian Transportation Agency
60 Laval Street, Unit 1-117
Gatineau, Quebec
Canada J8X 3G9

Please note that these must be postdated no later than August 29, 2025, for the first round and October 17, 2025, for the second round of consultations.

If you wish to submit a video due to accessibility issues, please send an email to grain@otc-cta.gc.ca with the subject line “Video“. We will contact you to coordinate your submission.

Who can see your feedback

Your feedback is public information

Your feedback will appear on the Agency website in the official language you used to write it, along with your name. If you believe part, or all, of your feedback should be treated as confidential, follow the steps below.

Confidential Information

If a document you send has confidential information, you must send two copies of it, as follows:

1. One copy (the public version) from which the confidential information has been blacked out.
2. One copy (the confidential version) in which:
   • each page is marked “contains confidential information” at the top; and
   • you highlight, or otherwise show, on each page the confidential information that was blacked out in the first copy.

The Agency will post the public version on its website and keep the confidential one for internal use only.

However, all feedback is subject to the Access to Information Act and Privacy Act. The Agency will protect the confidentiality of your information subject to the provisions of those acts, but the Agency can be required to release information if someone requests it and if it doesn't fall within the legislated exceptions.

Reference material

VRCPI forecasting model review: Consultation paper

Initial public submissions