My favorite MAGA hat-wearing minister has issued a call to action to the federal transport minister, urging investment in interprovincial mega-infrastructure projects to keep Canada productive amid an impending tariff war with the United States. Given that his ministry is Transportation and Economic Corridors, it’s worth examining what’s actually being actioned. Historically, the MAGA minister’s focus has been squarely on the economy, often neglecting how transportation itself contributes to economic strength.
Another Bureaucratic Layer Instead of Action
The MAGA minister proposes creating an Economic Corridor Agency to identify and maintain economic corridors across provincial boundaries, with consultations involving Indigenous groups and industry. However, Transport Canada already has mechanisms in place: the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA), the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA), and the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA). These organizations have spent decades attempting to align regulations and reduce interprovincial trade barriers. The issue isn’t a lack of agencies—it’s the unwillingness of jurisdictions to uniformly adopt existing regulations.
Rather than creating another layer of bureaucracy, the government should focus on implementing industry-backed solutions. The CCMTA has a strategic plan for 2024-2027 and the CFTA’s Internal Trade Action Plan (ITAP) for 2024-2027 already outlines necessary steps—there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.
The Case of the Disappearing Rest Areas
The MAGA minister calls for increased federal funding for trade-enabling infrastructure such as roads, rail, ports, inland ports, and airports. Notably, the CTA lists lack of rest areas as an inter-provincial trade barrier in trucking. There is an urgent need for more rest areas for commercial drivers, particularly those accommodating long combination vehicles (LCVs).
Yet, in 2022, the UCP government promised 18 new rest areas. Construction was supposed to begin in 2023, and it’s now 2025—yet no new rest areas exist. If the minister is serious about trade-enabling infrastructure, he should take inspiration from Lougheed’s government: build roads, twin highways, and fulfill existing commitments instead of making new ones.
Regulatory Barriers: Overlooked and Unresolved
The MAGA minister also pledges to streamline regulations around trade-related infrastructure and interprovincial commerce, particularly within economic corridors. But Alberta trucking companies still face significant burdens, such as PST compliance when operating in British Columbia and Saskatchewan. This issue should have been addressed under the New West Partnership MoU—why wasn’t it?
Additionally, Alberta’s Ministry of Transportation and Economic Corridors has selectively granted an Electronic Logging Device (ELD) exemption permit to the oilfield industry while neglecting farmers and ranchers. The U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMSCA) recognized this additional burden on farmers and ranchers and wrote an agriculture exemption into its ELD regulation. This MAGA minister only cares about farmers and ranchers during rodeo season. Manitoba offers an ELD exemption by permit to federal carriers with parts of the fleet that remain within the province. Why hasn’t Alberta followed suit? If the minister is serious about regulatory efficiency, these discrepancies need to be addressed.
All Talk No Action The MAGA minister claims Alberta is proactively tackling trade issues by collaborating with Prairie provinces and the North, reducing interprovincial trade barriers, and fostering partnerships with Indigenous groups. However, in the trucking sector, this simply isn’t happening. Clearly this minister should have read the reading materials that came with the job to understand the issues facing trucking. Instead, all his focus has been on economic corridors and this neglect has stifled trucking in Alberta.
