TORONTO, Ont. — After joining federal Environment Minister Peter Kent at Bison Transport’s Mississauga terminal earlier this week to announce the harmonization of Canada’s greenhouse gas standards for new heavy trucks with those in the US, the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) offered some tips on how to improve the program.

CTA chief David Bradley said the Alliance supports the initiative, but also suggested it could be improved. For starters, the organization would like to see GHG-compliant vehicles labeled as such, so that customers would know they’re buying a GHG-compliant truck.

Also, Bradley suggested “the federal government could introduce accelerated capital cost allowance rates to accelerate the penetration of these vehicles into the fleet.”

CTA also called for a program of complementary measures – such as repayable grants, tax credits, etc. – introduced to spur voluntary investment in currently available and proven technologies that improve the fuel efficiency of the entire tractor-trailer combination.

“CTA understands the EPA/DOT is considering a regulation covering trailers and given Canada’s current policy of alignment with the US, it is likely that Canada would move in this direction as well,” said Bradley. “However, given the different weights and dimensions regimes that exist between the two countries, the trailer regulation will be a much more complex matter.”

CTA thanked Norm Sneyd, vice-president, business development at Bison Transport for hosting the event with Kent.