Canada’s access to tidewater — our ability to reach the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic on our own terms — shapes far more than trade. It influences our sovereignty, our climate commitments, and our economic resilience in a world where shipping routes, critical minerals, and Arctic corridors are becoming geopolitical battlegrounds. This longform explainer breaks down why tidewater access matters, how our geography both helps and hinders us, and what Canada must build to remain a self-determining nation in a rapidly changing century.