International Trade committee  Okay, that's fine. I wouldn't say that SPP in itself has been detrimental to the border. I think the process, obviously, has not been able to stem the roller coaster that the U.S. has been on in terms of security measures. I think it's a case that SPP lost its focus, whether th

International Trade committee  Yes. I think one has to be careful, though. I think you have to have a bit of a broad net around what you mean about border issues, because it moves into other policy areas at times, and I wouldn't want to restrict that. Certainly for me the border and trade go hand in hand, and

International Trade committee  I think maybe that's part of the problem. There are all kinds of processes that are presently under way, all kinds of fora where these things are discussed. The problem is the coordination, bringing the departments together. In the last few years, I've had four or five ministers

International Trade committee  That's a big question to answer. I would say that there has not been improvement. If I were to compare things with the situation on September 10, 2001, no. We've seen a definite thickening of the border, and this is having an impact on the trading relationship and our ability to

International Trade committee  Thank you very much for the opportunity, Chairman and members of the committee. Very briefly, some background: CTA is a federation of the provincial trucking associations in Canada. We represent approximately 4,500 trucking companies from all provinces of all sizes, serving eve

Finance committee  It depends on what you mean by the last little while. Obviously over the last number of years we've seen a gross thickening of the border. We're waiting to see what we can learn from Secretary Napolitano's report, which so far has not been released to us. I can tell you that righ

Finance committee  Obviously, I indicated in my comments that we're a derived demand industry, so anything that contributes to increased aggregate demand in the economy helps our industry. Clearly, we're suffering from the impacts of the ravages that have been imposed on our traditional customers:

Finance committee  I'm moving. Specifically, we talked to you during the budget consultations about a program to accelerate the penetration of smog-free trucks and fuel efficiency devices that will tackle GHG. We didn't see anything. We wanted to see the implementation of the two-cent-per-litre r

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. My name is David Bradley, and I'm CEO of the Canadian Trucking Alliance. Trucking is the preferred mode of freight transportation in Canada. We haul about 90% of all consumer products and foodstuffs, as well as tw

Finance committee  The smog-free truck engine that eliminates NOx and particulate matter does not reduce greenhouse gases. That's why you have to have this combination of other technologies and devices.

Finance committee  The next round of technological advancement in the heavy truck engine will be in 2010, and while it's a little early to tell at this point, the indication we've received from the manufacturers to date is that we can anticipate that there will be some further slippage in order to

Finance committee  —long distances, they're able to say, oh, aren't we great on GHG. But they're spewing more bad stuff into the air.

Finance committee  No, not at all, because our equipment was left out, which is so often the case. Although we're a key part of the supply chain in the manufacturing process, we don't get the same sort of accelerated capital cost allowances that other sectors get. In fact, our capital cost allowanc

Finance committee  Oh, absolutely.

Finance committee  No, I only had five minutes. I'd love to be able to talk about that at some point. We are a reflection and a microcosm of the economy, and we have an unbelievable situation. While we've seen traffic levels decline as the amount of manufactured goods from Canada to the United St