Transportation and Public Works Minister Gail Shea expressed optimism about the results of inter-governmental collaboration on transportation issues following national transportation meetings that wrapped up today in Quebec City.
Representatives from the federal, provincial and territorial governments met this week in Quebec City for the Council of Ministers Responsible for Transportation and Highway Safety. Among the issues dealt with during the conference were the need for increased driver licence security; preserving the financial viability of small airports; regulatory issues affecting the trucking industry; general public safety issues; and the National Highway System. A number of resolutions were passed which established clear mandates for collaboration on some specific initiatives.
“These meetings have been quite productive and I’m very pleased with the end results,” said Transportation and Public Works Minister Gail Shea. “With just about every issue, it’s a case of each jurisdiction or region having somewhat different circumstances so the stakes involved are often not exactly the same. That makes reaching a consensus among 14 jurisdictions rarely simple or straight forward.”
At the top of Prince Edward Island’s agenda was the status of Route 2. The original National Highway System (NHS) was established in 1988 and included only the Trans-Canada Highway between Wood Islands and Borden-Carleton as eligible for federal highways funding. For years the Province has sought to include Route 2, the province’s main arterial highway, into the NHS.
Going into the meetings, Prince Edward Island along with the other provinces and territories, had proposed the adoption of a two-tiered system for designation that would significantly expand the size of the NHS and increase the potential for federal/provincial partnering on highway improvements accordingly.
“The Council of Ministers unanimously agreed to a two-tier system that will see the National Highway System grow significantly,“advised Shea. “The first tier will be expanded by 2,700 kilometres immediately, which is an increase of more than 10 per cent. A second tier that will also be eligible for federal/provincial cost-sharing was agreed to in principle and will be finalized soon after some collaborative work on criteria is completed.”
“What all this means for Prince Edward Island is that Route 2 between Summerside and Charlottetown as well as Route 1A between Summerside and Borden-Carleton are now part of the National Highway System,” announced Shea. “The balance of Route 2 west of Summerside and east of Charlottetown has been proposed as part of the new Tier 2 system and sometime between now and March I think we’ll know for sure. I’m optimistic that these links will be designated also.”
Shea acknowledged the leadership of federal Transport Minister Jean Lapierre in helping reach agreement on so many issues. “Minister Lapierre clearly recognizes that in a country as diverse as Canada ‘one size fits all’ solutions don’t work well. This was a theme that came up over and over again as we made our way through the agenda. Without this approach I know we would not have made the progress we did. I want to commend Minister Lapierre for his vision and leadership in this regard and for his collaborative approach to getting real results,” said Shea.