Interprovincial Trucking Remains a Key Focus of First Minister’s Meeting

The First Ministers ended their meeting this week with a readout of some of the important issues discussed over the two days, including the ongoing tariff war and the upcoming CUSMA review, as well as their commitment to remove provincial red tape and grow interprovincial trade.

The Memorandum of Understanding on Interprovincial Trucking was once again discussed. There was also a commitment to enhancing border security and enforcement resources to counter the growing extortion crisis in Canada, which is impacting trucking fleets.

"The Canadian Trucking Alliance, and its provincial association members will continue to work with Ottawa and our provincial legislatures to make our industry stronger, more efficient, safer and compliant to better serve all aspects of the Canadian economy," said CTA CEO and President Stephen Laskowski. "The trucking industry is front and centre in many federal and provincial planning discussions, while acting as a primary driver to make Canada a better place to invest and grow. As a sector, we need to capitalize on this momentum as it relates to the many issues we are dealing with."

In an effort led by the CTA in 2024, the federal government and provinces worked with the Alliance to identify the trucking industry as the pilot sector to remove internal trade barriers. By 2025, the provinces and federal government organized a first-of-its-kind meeting with the trucking industry to discuss the critical economic issues and how the provinces and federal government could assist in making the industry more efficient.

"This will be an important year for the trucking industry, with the expected launch of an internal trade barrier working group, an announcement on CCMTA deliverables regarding truck safety, federal Driver Inc Committee recommendations, Budget 2025 deliverables, and CUSMA discussions," said Laskowski. "The outcomes of these issues will be critical to shaping the future of our sector."