Weights and Dimensions Task Force: Turning Trade Barriers Into a Work Plan
Author – Andrew Barnes, Senior Advisor, Compliance & Regulatory Affairs, AMTA
Anyone running trucks across more than one province knows the truth: Canada’s internal trade barriers don’t just live in law books – they live in axle charts, escort rules, permit delays and spring bans. That’s exactly what was on the table at the recent two-day meeting of the Task Force on Vehicle Weights and Dimensions Policy held December 2&3 2025.
Around the table were:
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- John Pearson, Executive Director of the Task Force
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- Andrew Barnes, Alberta Motor Transport Association (AMTA)
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- Aaron Dolyniuk, Manitoba Trucking Association (MTA)
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- Chris McKee, Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association
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- Mike Millian, Private Motor Truck Council of Canada (PMTC)
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- Yves Maurais, representing Quebec carriers
Together with federal and provincial officials, the meeting focused on one core question: How do we stop weights and dimensions rules from mirroring trade barriers within Canada?
On behalf of AMTA, Andrew Barnes presented a full package built from his Association’s “Interprovincial Trade Barriers” discussion paper and slide deck.
Barnes’ presentation, “Alberta-First: Fixing Interprovincial Trucking Barriers – Why unequal rules hurt Alberta carriers and what must change,” walked the Task Force through:
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- Misaligned long combination vehicles rules between east and west
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- Conflicting oversize and weight escort and signage requirements
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- Permit timelines that range from hours in Alberta to weeks elsewhere
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- Road classifications and spring bans that don’t line up at the border
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- Cargo securement interpretations that change from province to province
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- Rest-stop, winter maintenance and zero emission vehicles weight-allowance gaps
For each one, Barnes paired the problem with a practical fix – harmonized axle limits, minimum national oversize/overweight standards, a Western one-window superload permit model, a common definition of “contained cargo” under NSC 10, and a time-limited 3,500 kg ZEV weight allowance to avoid penalizing early adopters.
After the presentation, Transport Canada (TC) officials called AMTA’s approach a creative way to tackle internal trade barriers, one that was solution-driven rather than problem-driven.
TC has requested follow-up technical meetings with AMTA to dig deeper into the presentation recommendations, look at where federal levers can help, and test how much of the framework can be scaled up nationally.
In the end, this meeting put trade barriers front and centre in the weights-and-dimensions conversation, and also gave provincial associations a chance to put a concrete, workable blueprint in front of the rest of Canada, and Transport Canada.