MONTREAL, Que. — Canadian Trucking Alliance CEO David Bradley says “modest yet meaningful measures” need to be taken in order to win back productivity and efficiency at the Canada-US border and take full advantage of the economic recovery.

Bradley was speaking to an audience of Canadian and US business and government officials at the 15th Annual Policy Forum of the Canadian-American Business Advisory Council in Montreal.

“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. “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. With regard to the border, Bradley said that governments on both sides of the border are calling for a new border framework.

“They are urging us to develop the next great idea, to think outside the box,” he said. “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.”

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