Government Announces Trucking Pilot Project to Improve Goods Movement

On September 26, 2024, at the Committee on Internal Trade (CIT) meeting in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc and Minister of Transport Anita Anand announced a pilot project to mutually recognize regulatory requirements in the trucking sector. The project involves several provinces and territories, including Ontario, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut.

The pilot project aims to improve the movement of goods across Canada by having participating regions recognize 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 suggest that mutual recognition agreements in key sectors like transportation and trucking could potentially increase Canada's economy by $200 billion per year. The pilot project is expected to help test and measure the benefits of mutual recognition and may pave the way for similar initiatives in other sectors, including labor mobility.

The Government of Canada has previously launched the Canadian Internal Trade Data and Information Hub and removed one-third of federal exceptions in the Canadian Free Trade Agreement to facilitate internal trade. Additionally, the Treasury Board of Canada is setting up a working group to examine productivity in the public sector and inform the government's economic plan.