Ottawa asleep at the gate on security policies, Bradley warns

TORONTO (Dec. 9, 2002) — The head of the Canadian Trucking Alliance said Canadian political leaders should “get over their aversion to exploring a North American perimeter security strategy” or face a withering of trade between Canada and the United States.

Speaking at the annual conference of the Canadian Transport Lawyers Association, CTA chief executive David Bradley said a chill has come over relations between the two countries. “You just have to visit Washington to feel it,” he said. “The potential flight of direct investment from Canada to the United States and to Mexico should be the number-one issue on the political agenda.”

He lamented that security-related legislation and policies in the United States tend to make no special mention of Canada or the need to preserve Canada-U.S. land border trade.

Bradley noted that while progress has been made over the past year on the 30-point Smart Border Accord and the FAST program, Canadian face an increasing amount of red tape to cross the border. He pointed to the introduction of a US Transportation Worker Identification Card as an example of where “Canada is not even in the game.” The card will eventually be held by millions of workers in the U.S. in order to access all port and transportation facilities. But there are no plans to include Canadians in this program, he said.

“We need a plan to minimize the impacts on trade efficiency and for ensuring that Canadian industries can meet the new requirements,” Bradley said. “We need to work hard to restore the view in Washington that while we are a sovereign country, we are the United States’ best friend and most important trading partner.”