David Bradley, president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, gave the following analysis of the border agreement. From the CTA press release:
David Bradley, president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, gave the following analysis of the border agreement. From the CTA press release:
Bradley acknowledges that his industry and the trade community at large have been promised these things before, only to be disappointed with the results.
“It will be essential for the governments to truly consult with the organizations whose members and businesses are living the border problems everyday. 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.”
Bradley also says that he does not think it is realistic to expect that the negotiations will lead to the dismantling of the plethora of measures introduced in the name of security that have been implemented over the past number of years.
“It may be a misnomer to characterize this to be the negotiation of a perimeter security agreement; I don’t detect any lessening of US 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.”
Their full statement is here.CTA statement.