Harper, Obama agree to overhaul Can-Am border

OTTAWA – Stephen Harper’s and Barack Obama’s new "vision" for the Canada-U.S. border is being praised by Canada’s top trucking lobby group.

The two leaders signed a pact calling for greater binational cooperation in trade, security and better streamlining at the border.

The agreement calls for both countries to commit to "a perimeter approach to security" while trying to improve the flow of goods.

Another strategy is the creation of a United States-Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC), composed of senior regulatory, trade, and foreign affairs officials from both governments.

The initiative’s priorities include addressing threats early, trade facilitation, economic growth and job creation, integrated cross border law enforcement and critical infrastructure and cybersecurity. 

It makes little sense to have belong to two
programs for FAST-lane access, says CTA

The RCC will look at "red tape reduction, transparency and ways to increase economic competitiveness by reducing bureaucracy," says the Canadian Trucking Alliance.

"The RCC is expected to bring forward an action plan within two years, a very ambitious goal."

Officials are also seeking an approach to improving infrastructure at the top 10 ports.

"Canada and the United States, alone or in partnership cannot hope to compete with the emerging economies and/or other trading blocs, unless we have a predictable, reliable and efficient supply chain; the sheer enormity and overlap of the measures that have been imposed on cross-border trade over the past decade has not always been consistent with that imperative,” said CTA’s president and CEO, David Bradley.

He acknowledges that many of these things have been promised before, only for the industry to be disappointed.

"Previous efforts to achieve improvements at the border, such as the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) were unsuccessful in part because they came at the problems from the 120,000 foot level instead of where the rubber meets the road.

"The functioning of the border is a complex process; it can’t be fixed by asking people what the top two or three things are that they would like to see changed," he said, adding that, for this to work, governments must truly consult with the organizations who are living the border problems everyday.

And while some may wish for relaxed rules at the border or the elimination of redundancy, Bradley warned that it is realistic to expect the dismantling "of the plethora of measures introduced in the name of security that have been implemented over the past number of years."

"I don’t detect any lessening of U.S. concerns over security, or their view that the border in some ways represents the first line of defence. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will no doubt continue to be an elephant in the room."

Canada, meanwhile, needs to look at some of its own border security programs to ensure that they are not even more burdensome than those in the U.S.

It makes little sense, says Bradley, for businesses to have to belong to two programs (Customs Self Assessment (CSA) and Partners in Protection (PIP)) in order to gain access to the Free and Secure Trade (FAST) lanes for goods moving northbound into Canada.

As well, since relaxing cabotage rules is a hard sell in the U.S., Canada should match American enforcement efforts on domestic in-transit loads on this side of the border to "ensure a level competitive playing field."

And while there are those who will decry the negotiations as a threat to Canadian sovereignty, Bradley said most Canadians understand the importance of the U.S. market for Canadian economic prosperity and jobs.

"Most Canadians get it," he said.