CANADIAN PARLIAMENT RECEIVES CTA REVIEW PANEL REPORT

CANADIAN PARLIAMENT RECEIVES CTA REVIEW PANEL REPORT    After a year of study and evaluation, the Canadian parliament received the final report of the Canada Transportation Act (CTA) Review Panel for its review.
   The 1996 Canada Transportation Act required a comprehensive review the economic regulation of the country’s transportation activities. A five-member panel developed the report.
   “The panel has produced a far-reaching report — containing more than 90 recommendations — which will play a pivotal role in shaping the transportation policies of the future,” said Canada’s Transport Minister David Collenette.
   The panel’s report, Vision and Balance, focuses on multimodal transportation issues such as competition, mergers, commercial operations, efficiency, infrastructure, urban rail corridors, access for persons with disabilities, sustainable development and electronic business.
   “The work of the CTA Review Panel will be one of the key building blocks in the development of a new transportation blueprint for Canada,” Collenette said. “In the meantime, the department will continue its work to ensure safe and efficient transportation system for Canada and Canadians.”
   The transportation blueprint project, which the Minister started earlier this year, is intended to renew the transportation agenda of the Canadian government by creating a framework that will guide future decisions in transportation over the next 10 years and beyond.
   Although grateful for the panel’s work, Canada’s transportation industry is concerned that the report sponsors increased government intervention into commercial transport.
   “This menu of recommendations — if adopted in is entirety and stripped of the context provided by the panel — could, at the end of the day, constitute a fundamental reversal of policy, a step back to unnecessary re-regulation of the industry,” said Paul M. Tellier, president and chief executive officer for Canadian National.
   The CTA Review Panel report may be viewed on line at https://www.reviewcta-examenltc.gc.ca/english/pages/finalreport.htm.