Trucking companies face interprovincial issues amid national conversation on alleviating barriers | CBC Northern Manitoba

Manitoba McKeen's Trucking in Flin Flon, Sask., which hauls gravel in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, says it often has to duplicate administrative tasks as it navigates safety, regulatory and tax differences in the two provinces.(Travis Golby/CBC) McKeen's Trucking doesn't haul as much gravel in Manitoba, because trips beyond a 30-kilometre radius of the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border require permits. The Saskatchewan-based company is about 500 metres from the border.(Travis Golby/CBC) Aaron Dolyniuk, executive director of the Manitoba Trucking Association, pictured here in a photo by John Kristalovich, says his industry has long called for a national database of performance records to manage and regulate the trucking sector.(Submitted by Aaron Dolyniuk) Minister Jaime Moses, who oversees business and trade in Manitoba, says the province continues to work with Ottawa and other provincial governments to harmonize regulations in trucking.(Jaison Empson/CBC) Trucking companies face interprovincial issues amid national conversation on alleviating barriers Province says Council of Ministers Responsible for Transportation developing MOU on interprovincial trucking One gravel and trucking company on the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border hopes it will get easier to do business across provinces in the next year. The conversation around alleviating interprovincial trade barriers has intensified amid U.S. tariffs in the last year, to protect and strengthen the Canadian economy, but some in the Prairie trucking industry say they haven't seen much progress. McKeen’s Trucking in the border city of Flin Flon, Sask., delivers gravel to job sites on both sides of the border. The company, located about 500 metres from the border, must navigate two sets of provincial rules. "We're having to do two of everything a lot of the time,” said owner Robert McKeen last month. "I always like to say we're a country made up of multiple little countries." Between safety, regulatory and tax differences, there are also permits required to haul inside Manitoba. His Saskatchewan-based company is allowed to do business in Manitoba without a permit, but only within a 30-kilometre radius of the border. Anything further demands more paperwork, more money and more time, including if they transported gravel to Cranberry Portage, Man., a community just over 30 kilometres southeast of Flin Flon. It’s an alternative McKeen said his company opted for over using the International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA), a program that can make it easier for interjurisdictional carriers to pay and track fuel taxes in each province or state, but which he says isn’t financially worthwhile for his company. Also, to bid on contracts in both provinces, for example, McKeen said his company has to be certified through a Certificate of Recognition program (COR) in each one. The national occupational health and safety standard for the construction industry is delivered and monitored by separate associations across provinces and territories, which McKeen says comes with audits from each one. “It's national, but it's not really national. It's provincial,” McKeen said. The company’s heavy vehicles are also safetied annually, but that happens once a year in Manitoba versus twice a year in Saskatchewan. "Every province has small differences, but ultimately...

Preview: ~500 words