Federal Government Announces Trucking Pilot Project
On September 26, 2024, the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs, and the Honourable Anita Anand, President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Transport, announced a pilot project to recognize regulatory requirements in the trucking sector. This announcement was made at the Committee on Internal Trade (CIT) meeting in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
The pilot project involves multiple jurisdictions, including Ontario, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut. The project aims to improve the movement of goods across Canada by recognizing each other's regulatory requirements, such as oversized vehicle signage, without compromising safety and security measures. The project will be co-chaired by Newfoundland and Labrador and Canada.
Experts predict that mutual recognition agreements in sectors like transportation and trucking could potentially increase Canada's economy by $200 billion per year. The pilot project will help test and measure the effectiveness of mutual recognition and may pave the way for similar agreements in other sectors, including labor mobility.
The Government of Canada has also launched the Canadian Internal Trade Data and Information Hub, removed one-third of federal exceptions in the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, and strengthened regulatory cooperation through various initiatives. Additionally, a working group is being set up to examine productivity in Canada's public sector and inform the government's economic plan.
