"Transportation - Making Connections in the New Millennium"
Speaking notes for
Mrs. Marian Robson
Chair and CEO
Canadian Transportation Agency
Windsor, Ontario
June 2, 2000
Introduction
Let me begin by expressing greetings from the Canadian Transportation Agency to those of you here today.
Canada's past is very much a history of transportation and its development. Moreover, the global changes we are presently seeing suggest that transportation is crucial to Canada's future in the new millennium.
My Agency colleagues and I wish to congratulate the transportation industry for the contribution it is making to the advancement of this country.
The theme of this year's annual celebration is "Transportation - Making Connections," - in particular, in this session, through partnerships and transportation integration. In joining with you today to celebrate National Transportation Week, I would like to say a few words about the Canadian Transportation Agency in relation to this theme.
International developments
But first, I would like to say a few words about the massive changes we are witnessing worldwide in all modes of transportation, and equally importantly in the infrastructures that support them. These sweeping changes have directly shaped the evolving role of the Canadian Transportation Agency.
Accelerated competition, the international spread of deregulation, and the advancement of technological innovation are globally transforming the systems in which people and products are moved from one place to another.
While these forces have eroded boundaries and have contributed to the emergence of a new "global economy", globalization itself has amplified the reach of these powerful forces even further. The world is now both a bigger and a smaller place than ever before, and it has become integrated in ways that were not even imagined only a few years ago.
Modern transportation systems have fostered the growth of regional and continental economies, enabling local industries to penetrate markets they couldn't reach in the past. Modern technology has advanced this a step further by permitting instantaneous communication between local businesses and their clients all over the world.
The e-commerce revolution now upon us creates enormous challenges for the transportation sector. In order for companies to remain competitive, virtual transactions must be supported by the actual delivery of goods. Indeed, the instantaneous nature of e-commerce is pushing the transportation industry to deliver goods faster, cheaper and more efficiently than ever before.
It is here that some unavoidable Canadian realities come into play. Because of our vast size, and since some of our competitors are closer to major export markets in the Pacific, Europe and Asia, Canada's transportation system must remain highly efficient in order to compete.
North America
There is no place on earth where these broader global changes are more intensely at play than in North America. NAFTA has forever changed our approach to transportation issues and has enhanced the importance of transportation within the Canadian economy.
While Canada trades with nations all over the world, the most significant market for our products and services is the North American dynamo, which translates into some $400 billion each year. And with the expansion of this trade has come increased requirements for the efficient transportation of people.
Canada's transportation industry has been at the forefront in adapting to the historic evolution of this continental economy. In the field of air transportation, the Canada-U.S. "open skies" agreement has led to a huge increase in continental travel, while the dynamic presence of Canadian railways within the U.S. system has contributed to a vast expansion of north-south trade, with attendant structural adjustments and mergers. The huge growth in North American trucking is driving governments to innovation and infrastructure investments in road systems and border crossings. These and other developments raise further challenges and opportunities regarding the increased integration of transportation infrastructures.
Canadian developments
In one way or another, the dominant transportation issues we have seen in Canada over the past few years have been affected or driven by these larger global forces.
Whether it be restructuring within the Canadian airline industry, as we have seen this past year - or railway mergers such as CN's acquisition of Illinois Central, and the proposed merger with Burlington Northern-Sante Fe - the creation of independent Port and Airport Authorities and the commercialization of the St. Lawrence Seaway B continuing issues with respect to Canada's grain transportation system - or the pressures being experienced within Canada's important trucking industry B all of these issues have been affected by increased competition, deregulation and technological innovation.
In representing the public interest in this rapidly changing environment, what approach should government take in responding to these and other issues?
Changing role of government
The immediate answer to that question is found in the Canada Transportation Act of 1996 - the Act that brought the new Canadian Transportation Agency into being, and which will undergo its first legislative review this year.
When Parliament passed this legislation, it made clear its intention that marketplace forces should prevail in the transportation sector - unless intervention is required in the public interest - in order to ensure that Canada's transportation industry can continue to compete with the best in the world. The emphasis of the Act has been on commercial solutions to business issues, rather than on the imposition of government regulation.
The Act was itself a function of the fundamental shift in the role of government that took place in the 1990s. This change has been for government to be more of a help and less of a hindrance in doing what it can to facilitate Canada's competitiveness. The approach is for government to get out of a hands-on operation of transportation entities and provide a more compatible environment for business to flourish.
As a result, while government - and in particular the Canadian Transportation Agency - has had an important role in issues of dispute resolution, consumer protection and the licensing of air and rail carriers, over the past few years the focus of government has shifted decidedly towards partnerships, innovation, and shared commitments to connectivity and productivity.
Since its own establishment in 1996, the Canadian Transportation Agency has been seeking new and innovative ways to be helpful and responsive in meeting the specific needs of the transportation industry.
While we, at the Agency, have very definite statutory obligations on behalf of Canadians that we must fulfill, the overall objective within our mandate is to help Canada achieve an efficient and accessible transportation system.
Role and innovation
This brings me more directly to what the Agency does, and the main point that I would like to impress upon you today.
At the Canadian Transportation Agency, we aim to be a modern, responsive organization that contributes to the effectiveness of the Canadian transportation system within a rapidly changing global environment.
Above all, we seek to be responsive.
It is the mandate of the Agency to render decisions on a wide range of matters affecting Canadian transportation, which fall under federal jurisdiction. Our role is to be impartial. We are a completely independent body. Moreover, we are an administrative tribunal, which means that we are less formal than a court in seeking the resolution of the issues that come before us.
The Agency is a quasi-judicial organization that acts as the economic regulator, licensing body, accessibility facilitator and aeronautical authority for the federal segment of the transportation system.
Much of our work is in helping to resolve disputes between parties within the transportation sector. In essence this means that while we hold hearings and release official rulings, we are in the business of bringing people together and finding solutions.
In doing so, moreover, the Agency is uniquely placed to be in touch with the full array of organizations and industries that make up the Canadian transportation sector. Because of these extensive connections, our expertise is not confined to specific transportation issues, but is more national and international in scope and perspective.
In keeping with the topic of this morning's session, we see it as an important part of our mandate, because of the work we do, to be a force for national connection and increased integration through partnerships in the transportation sector as a whole.
At the same time, however, because of our involvement across the full spectrum of Canadian transportation, the CTA has become a national repository of information and jurisprudence regarding the various segments of the transportation sector.
Recently, for example, we conducted a national study of marine pilotage for the Minister, and an extensive analysis of rail costs for the Kroeger report to the Minister on national grain transportation.
The recent changes proposed for the Western Grain Handling and Transportation System will involve an expanded role for the Agency in setting an annual Revenue Cap for Class one railways and in resolving disputes with respect to branch lines. In addition, under the new legislation proposed for air transportation, the Agency will have an increased mandate to deal with complaints from consumers regarding services and fares provided by airlines that fly in Canada.
We believe that as much as possible, the information and expertise we acquire in fulfilling these and other functions should be made available to those who can benefit from it, and we invite you to approach us with your information needs.
The same is true with informed and informal advice we can offer in resolving disputes before they lead to formal hearings. Members and staff of the Agency are being trained in mediation and will be offering a new and valuable tool for dispute resolution to our clients. We are committed to expanding the services the Agency can provide for the effective negotiation and mediation of disputes.
In recent years, government tribunals that have introduced innovative mediation programs have seen a huge success rate among their clients. These initiatives are widely viewed as beneficial to all of the parties involved.
To this end, today the Agency is launching an expanded pilot project to promote the increased use of mediation as an alternative and faster means of dispute resolution in our Rail and Marine Branch. Participation is entirely voluntary, and parties in a mediation process will retain complete control over the issues and outcomes. Most importantly, any information disclosed during the mediation will be kept completely confidential. In all cases, should mediation fail, the parties involved can choose if they wish to proceed to a formal hearing.
Pamphlets describing this new service are available here today. The Agency will be mounting increased publicity for its mediation services, and I encourage members of the transportation industry to take advantage of them.
This initiative brings me to a final point I would like to make. That is our desire to avoid regulation when it is possible and appropriate to do so.
The Canadian Transportation Agency does indeed possess the power to regulate, and is often called upon to do so in fulfilling its mandate in accordance with the public interest and Canada's Transportation Act.
But where possible our preference is for shared solutions. That is why, for example, an important part of the Agency's mandate is to develop, in consultation with industry, voluntary codes of practice regarding issues of accessibility.
In an effort to provide travelers with disabilities access to Canada's transportation network, the Agency weighs both the needs of persons with disabilities and the ability of industry to deliver accessible services.
Conclusion
It is our ambition at the Canadian Transportation Agency to be responsive more than regulative.
It is our aim to be a modern, responsive organization that contributes to the effectiveness of the Canadian transportation system within a rapidly changing global environment.
We all share the same goal - achieving an affordable, efficient and accessible transportation industry that enhances Canada's competitiveness. This morning, you have given me the opportunity to describe how the Agency is working together with you to realize this goal.
I want to thank you for your invitation to do so, as my colleagues and I join with you in celebrating National Transportation Week.
For more information, visit the Web site at National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
This information is brought to you by the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) which this site is not affiliated with. NTWeek.org and any opinions expressed herein are just that, opinions, and this site is merely a source for consumers to seek information and help.
