Moving the Asia-Pacific Gateway Forward
Speech to the B.C. Trucking Association luncheon
Surrey, B.C.
March 6.2007

(Check Against Delivery)

I want to thank you for the opportunity to address the British Columbia Trucking Association.  

There are few groups with a bigger role to play in Canada’s economy than the trucking industry.  

It is critical to Canada’s logistics system and global supply chains ¾ supply chains that bring goods from one country to another, from marketplace to marketplace.      

We tend to take transportation for granted.  The grocery shopper compares oranges in a grocery store, blissfully unaware that one is from Florida, one from California and one from Morocco.  We buy coffee from Colombia, bananas from Hawaii, cheese from France, and peanuts from Senegal without a second thought.  If asked, “Where did that stuff come from?” Most might invariably answer, “From the store.” 

The fact is the average Canadian doesn’t give transportation a second thought.  Buy something via the Internet and click the “overnight delivery” box and the item magically appears on our doorstep the next day.  Work in an automobile assembly factory in Ontario and watch how seats arrive at the loading dock, just precisely at the moment they are needed for installation. 

Watch any athlete at the top of his game.  They appear natural.  They have a style that makes it look easy.  It’s easy for amateurs to confuse “talent” with “practice.”   And so it is with transport. 

Our transport industry is becoming even more proficient and more customer–focused than ever.  Your work has made it possible for retailers to offer Canadians lower prices and better selection.   Your work at adapting to “Just-in-Time” delivery requirements has helped make our manufacturing industries, particularly in Ontario’s auto sector, more competitive.   In many ways, the jobs Canadians hold and our standard of living is due to the unsung heroes who work in our transportation industry. 

Canada is a cold, often hostile landscape that spans a distance greater than the North Atlantic.  Yet the prices for and selection of goods is roughly the same on both coasts, and in all the communities in between.  Just like the top athletes, your performance is so top-rate and consistent that we tend to take it for granted, completely forgetting the effort that goes into it, and often overlooking that your performance is often in spite of government policy. 

In fact, trucks move 90% of all consumer products and foodstuffs within Canada.   

It’s an industry worth nearly $55 billion, and employs over 260,000 drivers and roughly 400,000 Canadians.  

Right here in British Columbia, we have over 20,000 trucking companies registered, which has tremendous economic benefits for all of Canada.  

For example, we know that for every dollar spent on trucking services in this province, an additional 70 cents is spent elsewhere in the economy as a result. 

Last year, Canada’s trucking sector moved close to $185 billion in exports to the United States, our largest trading partner. 

That’s an increase of over $2 billion from 2004. In turn, Canada’s truckers brought back $164.5 billion in imports. 

In total, the trucking industry handles 60 per cent of all trade with the United States.   

Heavy trucks make 13.5 million two-way trips across the Canada-U.S. border every year.     

So you can see, the words that your industry has long gone by ¾ If you got it, a truck brought it ¾ are as appropriate today as they were years ago. 

And the trucking industry will only become more important as trade increases and we continue to establish those global supply chains. 

To compete on a global scale, we need these global supply chains to be efficient, fast and reliable.  

Anything less will make Canada vulnerable to our competition in the US and Mexico.   

But create the right kind of logistics system, and we can transform Canada into the most competitive gateway for North America.    

Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative

I want to talk about a project that is very important to British Columbia, and very important to our government ¾ the Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative.    

We have opportunities on the Pacific Coast, and on the East Coast.   

We have the Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative, a strategy to position the West Coast as the best route into North America for Asian traders.   

Here in B.C., we’ve been talking about the Gateway for 20 years as an opportunity for British Columbia to build links to Asia.  

Many of the stakeholders have been working together for more than a decade to develop a gateway strategy.   

But we no longer have the luxury of a decade to get an initiative like this up and running.   

The time to get in the game is right now.  

I was recently in China on a trade mission with David Emerson, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Pacific Gateway.   

The Minster and I told officials there that we want to work closely with them to increase trade and develop the Pacific Gateway so it could be used for the movement of goods and services.   

We have their attention, but we haven’t won their business.   

We need to do better, and we need a coherent strategy if we’re going to realize the potential for the Gateway.  

Minister Emerson understands this. The Prime Minister understands this. 

That’s why our Federal Government has committed $591 million for the Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative.  

Many of these investments will directly help you.  

We’re providing $100 million to the South Fraser Perimeter Road ¾ Deltaport Connector, which will provide a designated east-west truck route that will bypass the municipal road networks and allow free road access between Deltaport and Highway 99.  

We’ve committed $37 million for the twinning of the Trans Canada Highway in Banff National Park, which will eliminate some of the most serious congestion between Vancouver and Calgary.  

Our government’s Gateway strategy is also focused on working with our partners and stakeholders.   

That’s why we have the Lower Mainland Trucking Forum to provide feedback and review business practices.    

Minister Emerson and Minister Falcon hosted one last year in Vancouver, and we’ve had ongoing meetings over the past year.    

Other government initiatives

So as we move forward on the Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative, the trucking industry remains critically important.   

It is a critical part of Canada’s supply chain system. Our government understands this.   

But our role is about much more than just building roads and bridges. 

It’s also about how we manage transportation: how we regulate it; how we encourage private sector investment, and how we attract a skilled workforce to operate it.  

We’re exploring ways to improve coordination among stakeholders.   

For example, we’re looking at opportunities for bringing the lower mainland port authorities together, in order to make them more modern, efficient and competitive in the face of emerging global challenges. 

Canada’s New Government is also working decisively to protect the environment and the health of Canadians. 

And this government has recently announced a series of programs to promote clean transportation in Canada. 

After all, transportation is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions as well as smog.  

But transportation is also key to Canada’s economic prosperity.   

That’s why we have developed the ecoTransport Strategy.  

The ecoTransport Strategy is aimed at reducing the environmental impacts of transportation; securing Canada’s future prosperity and competitiveness by making critical transportation infrastructure sustainable ¾ economically and environmentally; and promoting an efficient transportation system that supports choice and the high quality of life that Canadians expect. 

Under this ecoTransport Strategy, we invested $61 million in our ecoFreight program, which is aimed at reducing the environmental and health effects of freight transportation. 

The first initiative under the ecoFreight program is the National Harmonization Initiative for the Trucking Industry. 

We are investing $6 million to help remove regulatory barriers to the adoption of emissions-reducing technologies for the trucking industry.   

We are investing this money because although there are many promising technologies for freight transportation, sometimes regulations and requirements put in place for other reasons can limit their adoption.  

For example, aerodynamic technologies can put a rig over provincial length or size limits.   

Cab-heaters to warm trucks without running the engine and other anti-idling equipment help truckers turn off their engines, but also add weight to a truck that is subject to a number of weight restrictions.   

And some technologies, such as truck speed limiters, require nationally harmonized regulations. 

But we’re providing up to $10 million for a Freight Technology Demonstration Fund.   

Where the harmonization initiative I’ve just described deals with established technologies, this second initiative seeks to demonstrate what new technologies hold the most promise.  

The third initiative under ecoFreight will allow us to invest up to $10 million in incentives for freight companies to purchase and install new and under-utilized technologies that have a proven ability to reduce emissions.   

We’re also, under the ecoFreight initiative, setting aside up to $7 million to build a “country-to-country,” “government-to-industry,” and “industry-to-industry” partnership on freight transportation.   

Quite simply, it is a priority for Canada’s New Government to work to protect the environment, while at the same time ensuring industry has the tools and incentive to participate in this green initiative.   

Initiatives such as our ecoFreight program help do that.  

Conclusion

Before I conclude, I want to say that we have made some significant progress.   

We know there are some challenges including congestion that need to be continuously addressed. 

But the trucking industry here in British Columbia is among the best in the world.  

Both British Columbia and Canada are strong because of the work you have done.    

I look forward to working with you in the future.  

Thank you.