Heavy Traffic: Trucking Deregulation, Federalism, and Canadian-U.S. Trade

Trucking deregulation, in the interest of competition and efficiency,removes rate controls and grants free entry to the market. Whenthe United States deregulated trucking in 1980, it opened theinterstate market to Canadian carriers. Heavy volumes of tradeby trucking between the two countries make entry conditionsan important bilateral issue. Deregulatory symmetry betweenthe two countries would produce a de facto regime of free tradein trucking services. In 1987 the Canadian federal governmentadopted deregulatory measures similar to those of the UnitedStates, but with more complex and problematic results. The reasons,broadly characteristic of the evolution of Canadian federalism,lie in the ability of the provinces to thwart federal initiatives.Trucking regulation is under provincial control, and to achievea practical effect, the federal government depends upon theprovinces to bring their practices into accord with its policy.Because of differing provincial views about deregulation andpressures from Canadian truckers for continued protection fromAmerican competition, much diversity and contention have delayedand compromised the federal governments purpose. Regulatoryreciprocity is also a question of the provinces and states,with a mixture of strict and easy entry policies complicatingthe achievement of bilateral balance and equity. The largerimplications of deregulation and transborder trucking for Canadalie in the ability of a decentralized federal system to pursuenecessary initiatives coherently.     

Opportunities Beckon

<正>Yantai makes a name for itself along the Belt and Road In 2013,Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Road Initiative,comprising the development plans of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century     

Hanging in The Balance The UK's snap election backfires and adds more uncertainty to Brexit

In the British general election held on June 8, no party was able to claim an outright victory by securing a majority of seats in the House of Commons, the lower chamber of the UK parliament.     

Looking East The reemergence of a multi-polar world

For millennia, Chinese society, one of Earth's greatest and most advanced, subsisted just fine on its own set of values. Chinese politi-cal philosophy is rooted in the ancient teachings of Confucius. A key tenet of this is filial piety.     

Pivotal Failure

<正>Former U.S.president leaves behind an unsubstantial legacy in the Asia-Pacific Back in April 2007 at the very first Democratic presidential primary debate of the 2008 U.S.general election,an up-and-coming Illinois Senator was questioned on the United States’most important     

Rail Mergers, Trade, and Federal Regulation in the United States and Canada

Federal rail regulation in the United States and Canada is stronglycentralized. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe and the CanadianNational railways' 1999 merger application called the existingrules into question. In the United States, the Surface TransportationBoard ordered a 15–month moratorium and produced stricterrules. In Canada, the BNSF/CN application coincided with a majorreview of federal transportation policy. Among the recommendationswas a new merger review process. This article surveys the relevantlegislation, the effects of NAFTA on rail traffic, conflictsbetween rail carriers and shippers, and the two governments'treatment of market forces. In determinations of the publicinterest, the article concludes, states and provinces are interestedparties among many.     

Foreign policy objectives,country studies and planning theory

Abstract. During the oil embargo of 1973, the Department of External Affairs' Policy Analysis Group formulated a set of Canadian foreign policy objectives and designed a format for studying countries whose relations with Canada portended important changes. Neither measure, according to a series of interviews with DEA officials, had any significant impact. The reasons for this are briefly recounted. The problem is considered in a more heuristic mode in reference to recent planning and organization theory. Discussion begins with the tenet that planning is an individual as well as an organizational process. This is not a merely academic distinction. It suggests, rather, that planning which actually affects decisions may originate from sources other than planning groups. The close psychological relationship between planning and decision-making postulated by planning theory directs attention accordingly to the operating levels of DEA and to opportunities and motivations for officials there to plan. Conditions that affect the impact of measures from planning groups are considered in reference to DEA'S organizational features. Sommaire. Au cours de l'embargo sur le pétrole de 1973, le groupe responsable de l'analyse des politiques au Ministere des Affaires exterieures formula un ensemble d'objectifs pour la politique étrangère canadienne et concut un format pour etudier les pays dont les relations avec le Canada risquaient de beaucoup changer. D'apres une serie d'entrevues avec les représentants officiels du MAE, aucune de ces deux demarches n'a eu beaucoup de succes. Avec la theorie actuelle de la planification et de l'organisation, le problème se presente de facon plus heuristique. La discussion a commence en tenant pour acquis que la planification est un processus individuel aussi bien qu'orga-nisational. II ne s'agit pas la d'une distinction purement intellectuelle. Cela veut plut6t dire que la planification qui aboutit aux decisions provient de sources étrangères aux groupes de planification. Le rapport psychologique etroit existant entre la planification et la prise de decision postule par la theorie de la planification attire notre attention sur les niveaux d'operation du MAE et sur les occasions et les motivations qu'y ont les fonctionnaires de planifier. Les conditions qui influencent l'impact des mesures emanant des groupes de planification sont examinees par rapport aux caracteristiques organisationnelles du MAE.