OTTAWA, Ont. — The Canadian anti-truck lobby group CRASH has added Mexican trucks to its list of bogeymen it says plague Canada’s highways.

Canadians for Responsible and Safe Highways (CRASH) is already well known for its anti-trucking Hours-of-Service rhetoric.

In a press release, it ratcheted up that rhetoric by playing on the fear of foreigners with a “different safety culture and language.”

Using that logic, it argues that is another reason “for the federal government to abandon its current plans to legitimize 19th Century-style 84- and 96-hour workweeks for truckers driving on Canada’s roads.”

CRASH is citing the recent North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) decision that has forced the U.S. to comply with international-trade rules that demand Mexican trucks get free access to the U.S.’s roads.

U.S. President Bush has pledged to follow the ruling.