MONTREAL — "Modest yet meaningful measures" need to be undertaken in order to take full advantage of economic recovery when it happens, the country’s top trucking spokesman told a group of Canadian and US business and government officials.

Speaking at the 15th Annual Policy Forum of the Canadian-American Business Advisory Council in Montreal, CEO of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, David Bradley said both the U.S. and Canada need to examine how productivity and efficiency already lost at the border can be won back elsewhere in the supply chain.

"Ending the dichotomy that currently exists between what a truck can do under customs laws in the other country and what a driver can do is something that needs to be looked at," he said, citing specifically the issue of empty trailer movements.

"Surely, we can end the silly situation which prevents a foreign driver in a foreign truck from making a repositioning movement of a foreign empty trailer."

He said there is also much to learn from the Canadian experience with more liberalized truck weights and dimensions, such as LCVs.

As for the border, he says that industry has been urged by governments to come up with solutions, to "think outside the box."

"That is fine but most of us are living in the day, trying to survive not only the challenge to improve security, but also to keep our companies whole, to serve our customers and to operate in a safe and environmentally-friendly way," he said.

Other speakers included the new US Ambassador to Canada, David Jacobsen, Quebec premier, Jean Charest and Canada’s international trade minister, Stockwell Day.