Collenette’s transport “vision” focuses on rail and air

OTTAWA, (Feb. 25, 2003) — As Trucking officials expected, Transportation Minister David Collenette’s vision for the future of Canadian transportation, tabled in Parliament today, largely neglected major trucking issues and focused instead on policies in areas where the federal government maintains a level of regulatory involvement, such as rail and air.

The strategy, a blueprint titled Straight Ahead, focused mainly on regulatory changes to air, marine, and rail, including a plan that would review significant merger or acquisition proposals involving carriers under federal jurisdiction. It also specified changes that will make it easier for rail customers to seek recourse during disputes with their service provider by removing the requirement for the Canadian Transportation Agency to assess whether a shipper would suffer “substantial commercial harm” before giving the shipper access to a regulatory remedy.

Canadian National Railway was quick to respond, calling the strategy a “missed opportunity to further de-regulate the nation’s world-leading rail transportation system.” The railway also protested the “substantial commercial harm” clause, warning that its removal would invite shippers to resort increasingly to the regulator, rather than a commercial agenda, on rate- and service-related issues.

However, the blueprint did keep in line with past Collenette statements hinting at the promotion of intermodal services as an alternative to trucking in major corridors and congested urban areas. As part of the strategy, the “government will place a high priority, when making strategic investments, on intermodal transportation” and other “intelligent transportation systems.” Intermodalism was again cited as a method for improving the environment, as well as calming traffic and bottlenecks in trade corridors and at border crossings.

As for trucking, the document made mention that the government will “take a leadership role to ensure that a consistent national safety rating regime is put in place; will seek greater compatibility in North American standards through the existing North American Free Trade Agreement; and work cooperatively with provincial and territorial governments to ensure that a consistent national hours of service regime for commercial vehicle drivers is put in place.”

The blueprint also raises the possibility of earning user revenue from infrastructure investment, including the tolls now charged for some highways and bridges. Collenette also praised a controversial move this month in London, England, to apply a daily toll on almost every vehicle entering the city centre.

David Bradley, CEO of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, said in a press release that once the blueprint veers away from “the traditional areas of federal involvement, it is soft on new commitments and concrete actions.” He said although the vision says the government will look at selective, strategic investments in highways and roads, federal responsibility for highways and urban transportation continues to be minimal.

“Road users are told to forget about their federal gasoline and diesel fuel taxes being used to pay for highways,” he said, adding such a policy is in stark contrast to the United States “where almost all federal gasoline and diesel fuel tax revenues are invested back into the transportation system.” Consequently, Bradley said, Canada continues to remain “the only major industrialized country on the planet, not to have a national highway policy for the foreseeable future.”


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