OTTAWA, Ont. — The federal government wants to reduce traffic congestion and help the environment by taking many trucks off Highway 401.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is part of the Liberals’ fall agenda, a major component of the Liberals’ cities strategy revealed in the throne speech delivered by Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson.

Transport Minister David Collenette says, in an interview with the Toronto Star, the government will introduce a new strategy for a safe, efficient and environmentally responsible transportation system that will help reduce congestion in our cities and bottlenecks in our trade corridors. He says he will bring a new transportation blueprint to cabinet this fall.

The federal plan would shift more truck traffic to rail and water, Collenette says, freeing up the overtaxed Highway 401 for carpooling and cutting down on truck emissions in urban areas, including the GTA.

“We have to do this,” Collenette told the Toronto Star. “It’s being done in Europe and more and more, it is being done in the U.S.”