Mexican truckers won’t have a dramatic effect on Canadian jobs or rates in the near future, but that doesn’t mean they won’t eventually play a role in determining how we do business here in Canada. It’s expected that Mexican carriers will eventually dominate the cross-border market between the U.S. and Mexico, especially on the shorter routes, largely because they’ll likely work for less than their American counterparts. In a highly competitive market, it’s usually price that determines who gets the work.

What that suggests is that Canada won’t see much direct competition from the Mexicans, but as a result of the Mexican competition, more American carriers might shift their focus to the north, adding a few more names to the list of carriers competing for the Canada/U.S. cross-border business.

Thanks largely to the vastly deflated Canadian dollar, Canadian carriers are more price competitive than the Americans, but anything can happen if the dollar begins to gain strength against the Yankee buck. Don’t hold your breath on that front though. It seems to be a Canadian government policy to keep the dollar low so as to offer Canadians a competitive advantage over the Americans.

So, the short answer to your questions is “not much, at least in the short term.” Long-term predictions are harder to make, but still, it isn’t likely that Mexico will be able to produce a sufficient quantity of English-speaking truck drivers to make a significant dent the U.S./Canadian market anytime soon.

Jim Park