I agree with a lot of what Deb is saying here. At the borders, as you heard from us, we're doing all we can to improve the infrastructure. We work with U.S. Customs and Canada Customs in trying to make things at the border more efficient. I sit on two task forces, one with the U.S. Customs and one with Canada Customs. We learn how we can shave seconds off inspection times.
We're piloting a new thing with CBSA at the Ambassador Bridge. It's called the “secure corridor concept” and it's for trusted travellers such as that same Fiat Chrysler driver who crosses our bridge maybe six or seven times a day. Right now, we're testing a procedure whereby this truck will clear in about 23 seconds as opposed to a minute or two minutes. That's huge when you're doing 12,000 trucks a day.
At the borders, working with the border operators and customs, we're trying to speed things up, but when you're talking about transborder shipments, the border starts at the loading dock and ends at the unloading dock, and it's that piece in between that sometimes.... In my days with the OPP, when the highways were jammed, either through just pure volumes or.... When a truck spends more time trying to get through Toronto or the QEW to get to the Peace Bridge, for example, than it takes him or her to transit the bridge.... It's far greater. They sit for hours there, and there are hours-of-service regulations for truck drivers. Like Deb said, time is money. It's that piece that's really critical: getting to and getting away from the borders.