Transport Canada Gives Priority to Harmonization

October 25, 2000 8:45 AM, EDT

Carriers in Canada are facing increased federal government scrutiny of safety as a result of efforts by Transport Canada, the agency that provides a national umbrella for oversight of the Canadian trucking industry, to harmonize the National Safety Code amongst the nation’s various jurisdictions and coordinate the formulation of new hours-of-service rules.

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The agency’s “purview solely rests on the safety side,” says Brian Orrbine, senior policy adviser for motor carriers at Transport Canada. “For us, the safety of all modes of transport in Canada is Transport Canada’s No. 1 priority. All of our efforts within the department address making improvements to the safety regime we have in place.”

And it appears that Transport Canada will have a lot of work to do to meet those objectives. According to a recent report done for Transport Canada by consultant Fred Nix, the National Safety Code is in a state of disarray, with separate and unequal regimes from province to province.

Canada enacted its National Safety Code for the trucking industry in 1987. Unlike the United States, where the federal government holds the lion’s share of power in administering trucking safety, in Canada, the provinces were given that responsibility. Each of the provinces and territories was supposed to “buy in” to the provisions of the National Safety Code and create their own laws using the code as a template. By December, the provincial safety codes were supposed to be uniform enough so that the system would be harmonized nationally.

For the full story, see the Oct. 23 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.