My name is Ken Bieger. I am the general manager of the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission.
As Ron mentioned, we have three bridges. We have the Rainbow Bridge, which is a pedestrian bridge. It's also a high tourist bridge and handles auto traffic. We have the Whirlpool Bridge, which is our oldest bridge. Built in 1898, it is a trusted traveller bridge for NEXUS autos only. Then we have the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge, which I think is probably the most important for the group here. That is our commercial truck and auto traffic bridge. There are no pedestrians on the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge.
We were asked to help the group here come up with ways to maximize the efficiency of Canada's trade corridor. I'll break this down into the three areas I see.
First, ensure that the technology in place is robust and that the downtime is equitably managed by someone who understands, really, the cost of trade. As a border operator between, let's say, CBSA and the government, we see a lot of discussion about trade, but there seems to be a disconnect when it comes down to implementing some of the things that are critical for us as border operators. Technology is a big part of it. I think we all know that there will be issues moving forward with staffing in terms of the number of CBSA officers, and the same on the U.S. side with CBP officers. Technology will be taking over. We need to bridge that gap between now and at the point that technology improves.
Currently we have issues with the advance commercial information system. We've had a lot of downtime in the last three or four years. It has improved recently, but it's been an issue. Better redundancy procedures in place for when these downtimes happen would help. These truckers get stuck at the border when these computer systems go down.
The transparency with metrics would be a big plus for us also. We are truly a partner with CBSA. I have to say that the local CBSA group is great with us as border operators. We have a great relationship between the Peace Bridge and the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission, but by improving metrics even from Ottawa as far as wait times and downtimes and things like that are concerned, we could communicate back and forth and all be on the same page. The way I put it in my write-up is that poor information leads to poor decisions. If we can work together with the metrics and both agree what the wait times are and what the reasons are, I think that shared information would be helpful. Really, we think funding for upgrades in computer and technology systems would be a big plus, from our perspective.
Ron touched on staffing, as did Rick. Again, staffing improved with regard to our wait times here in the last year, in 2017, but 2016 was a difficult summer for everyone.
A lot of things lead to that. The collective bargaining agreement is outside of local control. I think there has to be some communication, some understanding, when decisions are made. Having the front-line officers have guns was a big issue. Not having everyone being able to be on the primary inspection lanes has caused a lot of issues at the port, so the collective bargaining agreement is an issue.
Really, from Ottawa basically just.... I think this again goes back to the disconnect between trade and what's really happening on the line. I think it's great that everybody's here and visiting the Peace Bridge tomorrow. Actually getting out there and seeing the trade and seeing these trucks go across really highlights that connection as to how much money we're talking about when these things are held up. It goes back to having adequate staffing and understanding it first-hand out there, at the primary inspection lane, versus Ottawa, let's say, not fully understanding the trade implications.
Ron touched on the Gordie Howe bridge. Obviously, from a border operator perspective, we're concerned that we have limited resources right now with CBSA. Are resources going to become more scarce when a bridge like Gordie Howe Bridge is going to open in the future?
In terms of the immigration issues with asylum seekers, the impact has affected border operators. I'm not sure if there's a different way in which that could be handled or improved for efficiency. Locally, I know everything's being done to work on different options to improve things.