CTA Urges Premiers to Take
Action on Interprovincial Trade Barriers in
Trucking
July deadline is fast approaching
July deadline is fast approaching
(Ottawa, March 13, 2008) -- Last August,
Canada’s Premiers announced they were moving forward to strengthen
domestic trade between provinces and territories by reducing barriers to trade
flows. A key part of the announcement was an agreement to harmonize
transportation regulatory codes and eliminate those standards and regulations
that are unjustifiable barriers to trade in the transportation sector. The
Premiers instructed ministers responsible to do this work by July 2008.
This was welcome news to the Canadian Trucking
Alliance, a federation of provincial trucking associations representing over
4,500 trucking companies. CTA has long argued that because trucking is primarily
regulated by the provinces, the industry is subject to a patchwork quilt of
provincial regulations and standards. And, with the July deadline fast
approaching, CTA is keen to see some progress and has written to the Council of
the Federation (whose membership is made up of the provincial
premiers).
At the same time, CTA recognizes there will be
difficulties. For starters, the alliance is not sure whether the hodge-podge of
trucking regulations meets governments’ definition of a “trade
barrier.” Even the directive given by the Premiers to the ministers
responsible for transportation regulation adds the proviso that action only be
taken on those regulations and standards that are “unjustifiable”
barriers to trade. Regardless CTA says that the differences in regulations that
truckers must contend with as they travel across the country can create
artificial competitive imbalances.
In CTA’s letter to the Council, Chief Executive
Officer David Bradley says: “Let me be clear, in some cases, differing
regulations are appropriate given the different conditions that exist in each
jurisdiction, and we would not suggest that harmonization is the right course in
all cases and at all times. But certainly in other areas these differences do
constitute barriers to fair competition and barriers to effective trade and in
these cases harmonization is not only desirable it is essential.”
CTA says that the lack of harmonization in trucking
regulations is most harmful in three key areas. First is the National Safety
Code (NSC) for Trucks which was introduced 20 years ago as an antidote for
deterioration of truck safety from economic deregulation. It contains 16
supposedly national standards – everything from truck driver hours of
service, to carrier safety ratings, to driver medicals, to trip inspections.
However, after two decades, not one of the NSC standards has been uniformly
adopted and/or enforced by the provincial governments. And, you don’t have
to look far to find a recent and glaring example of the problem. It took over a
decade for all the provinces to agree on a new federal regulation governing the
hours a truck driver must work and rest. The new national standard was to be
adopted by all jurisdictions by January 1, 2007. But, few have followed through
and CTA says that some provincial governments even seem prepared to disregard
their commitment to the federal regulation altogether. After numerous similar
examples over the years, CTA believes that its time for everyone to admit that
the current forum for most of the development and oversight of truck safety
standards, the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, has proven
ineffective in developing truly national standards or where there has been
agreement on a national standard, in ensuring adherence to them by all
provinces.
Truck weights and dimensions standards also fall under
provincial jurisdiction. The current “national” heavy truck
standards are really a set of minimum standards developed in the
mid-1980’s and contained in a national MOU in February 1988. So, at the
very least, a vehicle that meets the minimum MOU requirements can operate from
coast-to-coast while provinces retain the authority to allow other truck
configurations in their jurisdictions if they wish. CTA says that on balance
this has been positive for industry productivity, but it has also created
differences between jurisdictions and at times carriers may view these
differences as barriers to trade or at the very least add to the complexity of
spec’ing a fleet. Moreover, obtaining consensus from all jurisdictions to
examine and develop standards for new, or special configurations is extremely
difficult. CTA is also concerned that the current MOU standards did not
contemplate and therefore often do not accommodate new technologies and add-on
devices that are proven to reduce air contaminant and GHG emissions.
Finally, CTA argues that more than any other industry,
interprovincial motor carriers face a plethora of provincial regimes for taxing
business inputs when they invest in new tractors and trailers. Depending on
where a trucking company is located and where its trucks go, their equipment can
be slapped with an array of provincial levies – provincial retail sales
taxes, harmonized sales taxes and Multi-Jurisdictional Vehicle Taxes (MJVT).
And, the rules are not always applied fairly. MJVTs which exist in four
provinces, are designed to prorate provincial sales taxes on truck purchases
based on distances traveled in each jurisdiction. But depending on where a
company is domiciled, it might be subject to inconsistent treatment in the
handling of refunds for unused portions of the MVJT, for example. The regressive
nature of business input taxation and the costs of administering all the
separate systems impact directly on Canadian carriers’ ability to compete
and act as disincentives to investment in new equipment.
Bradley says he hopes there will be progress on
modernizing some of the rules that govern the industry, but he says, “it
will take the political commitment of the Premiers, the development of new
models for consensus building and decision-making, and a re-energizing of
existing ones.”
“We are under no illusions as to the
difficulties associated with this task,” he says. “But we must move
forward to ensure that Canada has the efficient, productive, reliable and
predictable supply chain it needs to compete and win now and in the
future.”
- 30 -
Source: Canadian Trucking
Alliance
About CTA:
The Canadian Trucking Alliance is a
federation of provincial trucking associations. We represent a broad
cross-section of the trucking industry—some 4,500 carriers,
owner-operators and industry suppliers. With our
head office in Ottawa and provincial association offices in Vancouver, Calgary,
Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and Moncton, CTA represents the
industry’s viewpoint on national and international policy, regulatory and
legislative issues that affect
trucking.
www.cantruck.ca
© 1995 -
2008, Ontario Trucking Association
555 Dixon Road, Toronto, Ontario
M9W
1H8
Tel: (416) 249-7401 | Fax: (416) 245-6152
Email:
info@ontruck.org