Prepared by: Dr. G. Bruce Doern, Distinguished Research Professor
School of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University, and
Professor Emeritus, Politics Department, University of Exeter
July 31, 2015
ABSTRACT:
This report focuses on common carrier issues with respect to rail transportation, but touches on other transportation modes as relevant. Its three primary purposes are: a) to examine the long-term relevance of the common carrier provision as a feature of national transportation policy and governance; b) to relate this to key principles of public policy, and to other current and potential social licence and public interest features of transportation policy and their legitimacy from policy and governance standpoints; and, c) to recommend such related future priorities in a revised Canada Transportation Act, as appropriate, taking into account the presence of oligopolistic carriers and shippers, third parties in these networked industries and supply chains; and international and United States economic and social realities and models in transportation policy. The report ends with the author’s ten key conclusions and observations respecting the report’s three key purposes.