Canadian Transportation Agency

Canadian Transportation Agency

Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), independent government agency responsible for the economic regulation of transportation activities in Canada. The CTA regulates rail, marine, and air transportation, including the access of companies to transportation markets, air routes, and rail lines; the licensing of transportation companies; and the rates charged for certain types of transportation. The CTA administers some 70 bilateral air agreements with other countries. These air agreements determine rights to specific air routes among other issues. The mandate of the CTA also includes ensuring access for people with disabilities to the transportation system. In addition, the agency functions as a quasi-judicial tribunal, with the powers of a superior court, settling legal disputes between companies or other parties about licensing, rates, and other issues. The CTA has the power to cancel or suspend the license of a transportation company, prosecute them in court, or impose a fine.

The first national transportation regulation agency in the Canadian government was the Canadian Transport Commission (CTC), which was established in 1967. In 1987, as part of the process of deregulating the transportation industry, the federal government replaced the CTC with the National Transportation Agency (NTA). That agency was in turn replaced by the CTA in 1996 when the Canadian Parliament passed the Canadian Transportation Act, which continued the trend toward deregulation. Under the act, Canada is supposed to have a competitive, accessible transportation system that is regulated only when necessary. In creating the CTA, the government reduced the scope of government regulation and removed many subsidies to transportation. It also significantly lessened federal control over transport rates and the entry of companies into the air and rail markets.

The CTA consists of a chairman, a vice chairman, and up to five full-time and three part-time members. The federal Cabinet appoints these officials on the recommendation of the prime minister. The professional staff that supports the work of these officials is located in two program branches, the Rail and Marine Branch and the Air and Accessible Transportation Branch. There are also two branches that provide administrative services, the Corporate Management Branch and the Legal Services and Secretariat Branch. The CTA has its headquarters in Hull, Québec, and operates six field offices across the country.

The CTA is answerable to Parliament through the minister of transportation and presents a report on its activities to Parliament annually. However, the minister of transportation does not directly supervise the CTA. Transportation issues such as competition in the airline business or the rail rate structure for the movement of grain can become highly controversial. The government designed the CTA to be an independent agency to promote more expert, objective, and judicial decision-making than would be true if the CTA was under the direct control of the minister of transportation, who is a partisan politician. (1)

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Notes and References

1. Encarta Online Encyclopedia

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This entry was last updated: March 23, 2014