TORONTO, (Oct. 26, 2004) — Canadian Trucking Alliance CEO David Bradley outlined a three-step plan to make the Canada-U.S. border more efficient.

Speaking to members at the annual meeting of Importers & Exporters Canada, Bradley, said that an efficient, predictable border is the number one economic issue confronting Canada.

“If we give up more efficiency and productivity at the border; if we cannot assure predictability of the supply chain, then direct investment will flow to where most of the demand for production resides — the US,” he said. “At that point, there will be a lot less demand for Canadian manufactured goods and a lot less work for Canadian trucks, trains, ships and other modes of freight transportation.”

According to Bradley, the keys to an efficient border are three-fold:

The first includes bilateral customs/security programs based on risk assessment as opposed to “checking everything all the time.”

Secondly, Bradley stressed more participation throughout the supply chain in these programs. He decried the slowness with which many shippers have embraced programs like FAST/C-TPAT and warned that more and more carriers are now charging for border delays and introducing different rates for FAST versus non-FAST shipments.

Finally Bradley told the group, that investment in infrastructure like new bridge capacity, improved highway approaches to the border, and more investment overall in the nation’s highway system, is critical to more efficient movement of goods.

“It is incredible,” says Bradley, “that in a country like Canada which is so dependent upon trade with the US for its economic well-being that we cannot find a way to move forward in places like Windsor and that Canada remains the only major industrialized country on the planet not to have a national highway policy.”