Masse Wants Canadian Steel Used in New Bridge

(CBC News)

Brian Masse, the NDP’s Canada-U.S. border critic, wants Ottawa to use Canadian steel in the construction of a new international crossing between Windsor and Detroit.

Masse’s made-in-Canada call comes in the wake of a Detroit News article published Friday that alleges the Canadian government will choose to use Chinese steel instead.

The article also alleges that the steel’s origin is the only hindrance left before the State of Michigan finally passes legislation that would allow construction of the new bridge.

The U.S. federal government has a policy that requires only domestically produced materials, when available, be used in federal construction projects.

“Why are we continuing to use made-in-China products that are cheaper, instead of putting our own workers back to work here in Canada?” Masse asked in a media release. Read more here.

News from Thompson Ahern: Weekly Updates

An updated list of recently published government memorandums, notices, regulations and decisions for the week ending June 1, 2011 is now available on our website here.

Canada, U.S. Collaborate for Cargo Security

(Air Cargo World News)

The U.S. and Canadian governments have agreed to mutually recognize each other’s airfreight screening protocols. Under a new agreement, belly-hold cargo screened in either the U.S. or Canada won’t have to be re-screened once it’s uploaded on a passenger aircraft in the other nation.

According to a press release issued by Canadian authorities, this initiative will reduce delays, as well as lower costs associated with screening. After all, the press release explained, nearly half of airfreight flown in Canada is transported on passenger craft. Read more here.

CBSA Updates: D Memoranda and Customs Notices

D2-3-1 http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/publications/dm-md/d2/d2-3-1-eng.html
Revised: Personal Exemptions for Residents Returning to Canada

D2-3-2  http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/publications/dm-md/d2/d2-3-2-eng.html
Revised: Former Residents of Canada - Tariff Item No.9805.00.00

D9-1-9  http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/publications/dm-md/d9/d9-1-9-eng.html
Revised: False Description of Geographical Origin of Goods and Goods With Trade Marks - Tariff Item No. 9897.00.00

CN12-016  http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/publications/cn-ad/cn12-016-eng.html
Release and Accounting of Casual Goods, Including Live Animals, in the Commercial Stream

CN12-015  http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/publications/cn-ad/cn12-015-eng.html
Use of Customs Brokers’ Business Numbers for Non-commercial Casual Importers and One-time Commercial Importers

Canada Issues Guidance on Use of Customs Brokers’ Business Numbers

(STR Trade Report)

The Canada Border Services Agency issued May 30 a notice confirming that non-commercial casual and one-time commercial importers are not entitled to a business number and that when acting on behalf of these clients customs brokers must account for the goods using their own broker BN with an RM account identified for the program under which they are importing. Circumstances in which brokers will use their BN RM account include the following.

Low-value shipments – Customs brokers who act for one-time importers of commercial goods or importers of non-commercial casual goods can process shipments using an RM account number under the broker's BN. The broker's importer/exporter account number must be identified as “LVS one-time importer.”

Courier/LVS program – Customs brokers accounting for shipments released under the courier/LVS program may process consolidated entries using an RM account number under their own BN. This account should be identified as “Courier/LVS program.”

Importation of high-value non-commercial (casual) goods – Such goods imported under the commercial process should be accounted for under an RM account assigned to the customs broker's BN. This account should be identified as “High Value, Casual Importations.”

Temporary importation – Importers who temporarily import commercial goods into Canada on Form E29B, Temporary Admission Permit, and then export the goods do not need a BN. However, if the goods are temporarily imported but subsequently remain in Canada, the goods must be accounted for using the importer’s BN and RM account. If the importer does not have an existing BN it must obtain a BN with an RM account to account for the duties and taxes owing. 

Convention and trade shows – Customs brokers may register a convention or trade show under their BN using the name of the convention or trade show as the RM account name. However, importers of commercial goods for display or sale at a convention or trade show should register for a BN.

The CBSA notes that as an alternative to using a broker’s BN the importer may account for these goods themselves using a B15 or B15-1, Casual Goods Accounting Document, at the CBSA office closest to where the goods are held for release.

CP Trains Rolling Today After Senate Passes Bill

(Bruce Cheadle – Winnipeg Free Press)

Back-to-work legislation for striking Canadian Pacific Rail workers cleared the Senate to become law Thursday, but Labour Minister Lisa Raitt is predicting it will take weeks to clear the backlog of freight once trains start rolling today.

Some 4,800 locomotive engineers, conductors, yardmen and others walked off the job nine days ago, crippling the country's biggest freight rail carrier.

CP Rail said it planned to have cars rolling 12 hours after the bill received royal assent. Even before the final Senate vote, Via Rail, which uses some CP track, told customers service would return to normal today.

CP Rail expects freight service will return to full capacity 48 hours after the wheels start turning, said spokesman Ed Greenberg, although clearing the backlog is more difficult to assess.

“We have lost nine days of loading,” Raitt told an emergency debate in the upper chamber Thursday, where she was making a last pitch to speed through the legislation. Read more here.

New Duty-Free Limits Will Challenge Canadian Retailers

(Janet Davison – CBC News)

With new duty-free limits for cross-border shoppers kicking in Friday, Canadians may decide they will want to make even more trips south for all those cheaper consumer goods.

For Canadian retailers, though, those trips would represent more money lost from their cash registers, and magnify the problems they are having with the noticeable price gaps between the two countries on everything from ketchup to running shoes.

“The increased [duty-free] exemptions, the currency equivalency and the challenges from a cost perspective … are a perfect storm of conditions that are going to be challenging from a Canadian retailer perspective,” says David Wilkes, senior vice-president of the Retail Council of Canada.

Under changes introduced in the 2012 federal budget, the duty-free limit on visits of more than 24 hours quadruples, rising from $50 to $200, effective June 1. Read more here.

Canada Govt Warns Of Delay In Senate On CP Back-To-Work Bill

(Dow Jones/WSJ)

Canadian Labor Minister Lisa Raitt said it is unlikely freight service at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (CP) will resume Thursday due to delay tactics by opposition politicians in the upper house on a bill to end the railroad’s eight-day strike.

The Conservative government used its majority in Canada’s lower house, along with a series of parliamentary tactics that limited debate, to get a back-to-work bill approved early Wednesday. Raitt introduced the bill Monday with the hope rail service would resume Thursday.

But she acknowledged a Thursday restart now appears unlikely as Liberal Party members in the senate aren’t willing to agree to an expedited debate.

“We cannot resume service on Thursday” as long as there is a delay in the senate, she told reporters following the weekly meeting of the Conservative Party caucus. “These [Liberal] senators have determined they are not going to help us with back-to-work legislation, so it is on their conscience.” Read more here.

NAFTA Trade Hits Record $85.7 Billion in March

(Journal of Commerce – Mark Szakonyi)

Surface trade by value rose 9.8 percent from February, 6.2 percent year-over-year

The value of surface transportation trade between the U.S. and Canada and Mexico hit a monthly record in March, topping $85.7 million.

Trade by value between the countries rose 9.8% from February and 6.2% year-over-year, according to the Department of Transportation. U.S surface trade with Canada and Mexico has risen 76.1% since March 2002, as exports jumped 104.5% in the same period. Read more here.

CP Rail Strike: Trains Won’t Run until Friday at Earliest

(Toronto Star – Vanessa Lu)

Canadian Pacific Railway trains won’t be rolling until Friday at the earliest, even though the House of Commons sat into the wee hours of Wednesday to pass back-to-work legislation.

About 4,800 members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference including engineers, conductors and rail traffic controllers have been on strike since May 23, shutting down CP Rail operations from Montreal to Vancouver. Main issues include pensions, post-retirement benefits and fatigue management.

The Conservative government used its majority to limit debate in the House, where Bill C39 passed just before 1:30 a.m. The Senate, which usually requires 48 hours’ notice before debating a bill, will hold hearings on Thursday. The legislation, which calls for an arbitrator to settle the contract dispute, could pass later that day, and after royal assent, it would go into effect 12 hours later. Read more here.

U.S. Senators Push for Quick Agreement on Rail Pre-Clearance Centre in Montreal

(Lee-Anne Goodman – The Canadian Press)

Four U.S. senators are urging the Obama administration to swiftly greenlight a new customs and immigration facility at Montreal’s Central Station, a move that would vastly improve rail service between Quebec’s biggest metropolis, New York City, the state of Vermont and the Washington, D.C., region.

The senators have sent a letter to two of Obama’s highest-ranking cabinet secretaries stressing the importance of the hub.

“The economic links between Canada and the states of Vermont and New York are vital, and there is great potential to make them stronger still,” they wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Janet Napolitano, the homeland security czar. “A smoother customs experience in Montreal will spur job creation and economic opportunities on both sides of the border.” Read more here.

Trade Minister Strikes Blue-Chip Free Trade Panel

(London Free Press – David Akin)

The federal government is tapping a high-powered panel of blue-chip Canadian business executives to tell it what to do next when it comes to free trade.

International Trade Minister Ed Fast said Tuesday the advisory panel will act as a sounding board as the government develops what it calls its “global commerce strategy.” The broad thrust of that strategy is to continue find new ways to wean the country’s economy off its reliance on American consumers.

“Our goal is to have a new, fully operational global commerce strategy in place sometime in 2013, one that will guide Canada’s trade priorities well into the future,” Fast said in a speech here Tuesday. Read more here.

Production Database Backup

(CFIA - Import Systems Unit)
 
This is a reminder that a full database backup of the production database (PROD)  is scheduled for Saturday, June 2nd, 2012.  CFIA systems will be unavailable from 3am to 7am EST.

Please note that full database backups of the production database (PROD) are scheduled for the first Saturday of every month between 3am to 7am EST. 

Asian Airlines Hit by Weak Demand and Softening Rates

(Journal of Commerce – Mike King)

Cargo carried on international routes by Association of Asia Pacific Airlines members fell 7.6% in April from prior year

Softening cargo rates due to weak demand continue to impact the bottom lines of Asia’s leading carriers, according to the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines.

Cargo carried on international routes by AAPA member airlines measured in freight tonne kilometres fell 7.6% last month compared to a year earlier and was down 4.8% over the first four months of the year. Read more here.

Euro Slide Silver Lining for Exporters

(Financial Times – Ralph Atkins)

Steep declines in the euro symbolize the woes of Europe’s monetary union but could have a silver lining: the boost to exporters may offer some much-needed support to economic growth across the 17-country region.

Last year, even as the euro crisis escalated, the currency’s value remained remarkably steady. In recent weeks, however, financial market sentiment towards the euro has turned decisively for the worse.

On a trade-weighted basis, the euro has fallen by more than 6% over the past year to the lowest since 2003. Against the dollar, the euro has dropped to a near two-year low of about $1.25. On a rough rule-of-thumb used by economists, a 10% fall in the euro’s trade-weighted value should boost economic growth by about 0.5 percentage points or more. Read more here.

Argentina to Vet Mining Company Imports

(MarketWatch – Shane Romig)

Mining companies with operations in Argentina will be required to submit requests to the government 120 days before importing goods and set up an “import substitution” department to boost buying of locally made goods, the planning ministry said in a statement Monday. The mining companies will have to submit quarterly estimates of their purchasing needs, which will be vetted by a special working group at the Mining Ministry, according to the statement.

The new measures come amid a host of formal and informal barriers to imports thrown up by the government so far this year. The barriers are designed to safeguard the country’s international reserves by limiting imports of goods and services and to protect local manufacturers from competition from cheaper imports. Read more here.

CP Rail Freight Shipments Predicted to Resume May 31: Labour Minister Raitt

(Daily Commercial News)

The Conservative government introduced back-to-work legislation for 4,800 striking Canadian Pacific Railway workers Monday, saying Canada's entire economy was at risk along with the country's international reputation.[...]

Canadian Pacific spokesman Ed Greenberg said once the legislation passes, “our company will shift our attention to fully preparing for a timely and disciplined ramp-up in operations with a view to achieve full production levels as soon as possible for the benefit of all our customers.” Read more here.

CP Rail Strike: Big Three Automakers Use Alternates Including Air, Marine

(Vanessa Lu – Toronto Star)

The Big Three automakers have been scrambling to move parts and components to keep assembly lines running, including shipping goods by air and marine.

That’s pricey, said Mark Nantais, president of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, but the automakers don’t want production lines to go idle, which would mean $1.5 million an hour in lost revenue.

While he won’t say what the CP Rail strike is costing the automakers, every day has an impact, he said, even on finished vehicles that need to be shipped via rail, sometimes to the United States. Read more here.

Effects of CP Rail Strike Could Linger Past Legislated End

(Ian Munroe – CBC News)

Disruptions in supply lines are snowballing and will take time to clear

After tabling back-to-work legislation in the House of Commons, federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt says she wants to see Canadian Pacific Railway trains moving again by Thursday.

But transportation and commodity experts say it could take quite a while for CP's rail service to get back to normal once the strike is brought to an end.

Barry Prentice, a business professor at the University of Manitoba, says that in the past only a handful of commodities were transported by train. But today “everything is moving in containers” that are often sent at least partway by rail.

As a result, the effect of the strike is “much more widespread than would have been the case in the past across the economy,” he said.Read more here.

Ottawa Tables CP Rail Back-to-Work Bill

(Scott Deveau – Financial Post)

Federal labour minster Lisa Raitt tabled a back-to-work bill in Parliament Monday to put an end to a strike at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.

Ms. Raitt also put forth a motion to expedite the bill’s passage allowing for it to be dealt with in one sitting of the House and to limit the amount of time for its debate.

She said she hopes the bill would see CP’s freight service resume by Thursday. Read more here.

CP Rail Talks Break Down

(Sarah Schmidt – Postmedia News)

Back-to-work legislation could be introduced in the House of Commons today

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. said Sunday the federal government will table back-to-work legislation after talks with striking rail workers collapsed.

Company spokesman Ed Greenberg said that Labour Minister Lisa Raitt released the negotiating parties Sunday afternoon and the government-appointed mediator gave up.

“The legislative process will now commence,” Greenberg said in a statement.

The strike of 4,800 railway workers began Wednesday and immediately halted freight deliveries of grain, coal, cars and other products.

Port Metro Vancouver, along with its terminal operators, Sunday called on Raitt “to immediately bring the stoppage to an end by introducing the necessary legislation.” Read more here.

Canadian Retailers Rebel Against Cross-border Shopping

(Tracy Sherlock – Postmedia News)

The stakes in the battle over cross-border shopping, already a multi-billion-dollar business, are about to be raised when duty-free limits go up June 1.

After years of watching Canadians line up to cross the border seeking cheaper prices, particularly with the dollar near parity, local retailers now face the prospect of even higher duty-free thresholds.

Canadian retailers are starting to fight back, pushing the federal government to investigate why businesses on this side of the border face higher wholesale prices that they're forced to pass on to consumers to stay in business. Read more here.